{"id":200309,"date":"2026-03-02T08:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:37:10","slug":"chamber-music-as-a-conversation-the-panther-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/200309\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber music as a conversation \u2014 The Panther Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn a chamber setting, we can invite the audience into something very close and personal. It\u2019s almost like letting them sit inside the rehearsal with us,\u201d said Yoshika Masuda<\/a>, cellist of The Darshan Trio<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat immediacy and transparency create a different kind of electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb. 19 at Musco Center for the Arts<\/a>, the ensemble did just that. Between the audience and musicians, it was as if the fourth wall was broken; the performance was a musical conversation among equals, where the listener was invited to not only look at the stage ahead, but look within.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Along with Masuda, who is also assistant professor of cello and director of strings at Chapman, the Los Angeles-based trio includes violinist Vijay Gupta<\/a> and pianist Dominic Cheli<\/a>. The trio formed in 2021, a time emerging from the pandemic that had the members thinking about the artistic life they would like to move forward with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an immediate sense of connection \u2014 musically, yes, but also personally. It felt almost like love at first sight,\u201d said Masuda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Masuda compares the group\u2019s sound formation to that of stars. Whether it\u2019s the \u201cstar stuff\u201d Carl Sagan quotes<\/a> \u2014 that \u201cwe are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself” \u2014 or the members\u2019 ideas that sometimes collide with one another. Out of that direction, something is born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Musuda reflects that playing in this ensemble has helped him grow not only as a musician, but as a human being. As deeply generous and thoughtful people, it\u2019s that \u201cgoodness\u201d that carries into the music. As Masuda said, when there is trust and mutual respect, the music breathes differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne lesson I\u2019ve learned is that the strongest musical moments often come from listening \u2014 truly listening \u2014 rather than asserting,\u201d said Masuda. \u201cI feel incredibly lucky that the three of us are often on such similar wavelengths that we understand each other without needing many words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performing \u201cThe Art of the Hymn\u201d \u2014 which explored three works spanning two centuries, incorporating hymn melodies by J.S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn and Charles Ives \u2014 the trio brought the audience on a journey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat fascinates us is how each composer embeds hymn material according to their own voice and worldview,\u201d Masuda said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The program began with modernist composer Charles Ives\u2019 \u201cPiano Trio,\u201d embedded with \u201cRock of Ages\u201d and folk songs like \u201cSailor\u2019s Hornpipe.\u201d The hymns throughout are layered with themes of memory, community and American identity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a haunting piece that is referential of Ives\u2019 days as a student at Yale. In the first of three movements, each instrument gets to play \u201cprofessor,\u201d taking turns dominating philosophical melodies in back-and-forth discussion before reaching an agreement in the end: C major.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next piece, J.S. Bach\u2019s \u201cChaconne arr. D. Cheli\u201d premiere, was newly arranged by the trio\u2019s pianist, Cheli. Unlike the hymns in Ives\u2019, Bach\u2019s are structural and theological.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In balancing the composers\u2019 integrities with their own artistic voices, Masuda\u2019s philosophy is built on bringing something living to the present.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe composers left us clues \u2014 in the notes, the phrasing, the structure, even in what they chose not to write,\u201d said Masuda. \u201cAnd when we study their lives and historical context, the music begins to speak even more clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among interpreting a piece through its historical context, it also involves a level of imagination for the musicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInterpretation, for me, isn\u2019t about imposing something onto the piece. It\u2019s about finding the human truth within it and sharing that truth in a way that resonates today,\u201d said Masuda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the last piece, Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s \u201cTrio No. 2 in C minor (30′),\u201d the hymns are lyrical and Romantic, almost nostalgic. It was astoundingly played by the musicians, each voice blending together in a wonderful color.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s name, Darshan, refers to a kind of sacred seeing, a seeing beyond seeing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this performance, we hope to offer that experience: hearing beyond hearing,\u201d said Masuda. \u201cWe hope listeners might encounter something familiar in a completely new light, or discover something unexpected within themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIn a chamber setting, we can invite the audience into something very close and personal. It\u2019s almost like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-200309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}