Duncan J. Cumming, received degrees from Bates College and New England Conservatory and received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2003 from Boston University.  In 2006 joined the faculty at the University at Albany, where he hosted the first Youth Movements Festival in 2008 and in 2009 his book The Fountain of Youth:  The Artistry of Frank Glazer was published.  As a professor, in 2010 he was honored to receive the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching.  His recent recordings include a solo recording for Centaur (CRC 3125) including music of Brahms, Debussy, Satie, and Chopin and the chamber music recording A Book of Hours for Albany Records (TROY 1239).  This past summer two new recordings were released:  Threads of the Heart, a chamber recording for Albany Records, and a historical instrument recording for Centaur (CRC 3231) of the music of Carl Maria von Weber on Weber’s own 1815 Brodmann fortepiano.  In concert and in recording he has collaborated with the mezzo soprano Magdelena Kozena, the conductor and keyboard player Christopher Hogwood, and pianist Frank Glazer. 

From 2002-2008 Cumming was on the faculty of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute as a teacher, chamber music coach, and performer in the position of assistant director and later director of the Young Artists Piano Program.  Before accepting the position at the University at Albany he was a member of the faculty at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.  He is the pianist of the Capital Trio and lives in New York with his wife, the violinist Hilary Walther Cumming, and his children Lucy, Mairi, and Bear. 

Matthews: Friday Night Fish Fry

Violinist Hilary Walther Cumming teaches at the University at Albany and performs as the violinist in the Capital Trio with pianist Duncan Cumming and cellist Şölen Dikener.  Before moving to New York, she served as concertmaster of the Cape Cod Sinfonietta and the Andover Chamber Orchestra; she has been heard as soloist with these ensembles as well as with the Reading Symphony, Concord Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  A versatile artist, she is comfortable in many styles including classical, baroque and Irish traditional music.

Ms. Cumming has participated in concerts worldwide, and immensely enjoyed returning to Europe on the Capital Trio’s recent tour of England, France and Switzerland May/June of 2011.  She has recorded primarily with the Capital Trio, The Abbott Trio, and the Coleridge Ensemble. Her most recent compact disc recording , “Threads of the Heart” with the Capital Trio, was released this past July (2013) on the Albany Records Label.

Şölen Dikener

Şőlen Dikener has been the professor of cello at Marshall University since 2002. He promotes the works of contemporary composers from Turkey and the USA. His recording projects featured the music of Ilhan Baran, Ahmed A. Saygun, Ilhan Usmanbas, Necil K. Akses, Cemal R. Rey, Kamran Ince as well as Paul Tortelier, Othmar Schoeck, William Matthews, Mark Zanter, David Walther, and David Williams. He recorded seven compact discs that are available on iTunes, Amazon, Napster and other music stores. Some of his live performances were broadcast at numerous radio stations including WWFM, WMUK, Radio France, and TRT (Turkish Radio & Television).  He has appeared as solo cellist and chamber musician in  the USA, Germany, Austria, France, Turkey, and England, performing with Kalamazoo Symphony, Huntington Symphony, CMU Orchestra, Kalamazoo College Orchestra, Marshall Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony, Presidential Symphony, Istanbul State Symphony, Hacettepe Symphony and collaborating with conductors Jean Perrison, Tadeusz Strugala, Raymond Harvey, Yoshimi Takeda, Isin Metin and Gurer Aykal.  He has also performed with the Shanghai String Quartet and pianists Adam Neiman and Yefim Bronfman. 

 

As an educator he has been a vigorous advocate of arts in the United States and Turkey. In 2010 he published a cello method book “Cello Warm-Up!” which received high critical acclaim from The Strad Magazine. During his studies in France, Dr. Dikener was one of the final assistants to the legendary French cellist Paul Tortelier. He received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University.

“...The Capital Trio plays throughout with clarity, precision and manifest musicality… This is a disc [A Book of Hours, Albany records 2011] that I shall enjoy repeatedly.”

--Fanfare Magazine, 2011

“The performances of both works are accurate and clear, and suggest that the players are as good-humored as the music.”

--Albany Times Union, 2011

Duncan J. Cumming