Trio Afiori is new on the music scene pursuing its national breakout “Heritage” tour. If recently formed, the trio packs personality, plenty of experience, and performance credibility. 

The trio’s pianist Gloria Chien, clarinetist Anthony McGill and mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron will perform a two-hour concert, including intermission, at 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 8, at Portland State University’s intimate Lincoln Performance Hall as part of Chamber Music Northwest’s fall season and an early stop along its national Heritage tour.

The trio’s highly acclaimed musicians are charismatic regulars at CMNW concerts. McGill played at former President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and is Principal Clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, the first African-American principal player in the organization’s history. Singaporean-British Barron won a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording of Adriana Mater by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho; and Chien is the 5-year co-artistic director of CMNW with husband/violinist Soovin Kim. The three have a long history of playing together that has evolved into a tight friendship, and Chien calls Barron a ”long-lost sister.” They have commissioned new works tailor-made for them that they’ll premier.

A little history from Chien.

“Anthony has been a dear friend and long-time collaborator since we first met at Music@Menlo in 2006. It was actually my first year at Menlo as a participant, and Anthony was a senior artist. He played a memorable concert with both the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and Messiaen’s Quartet For The End of Time at the same concert, and he was assigned to coach my Brahms’ “Waltz Four Hand” group. That’s how it all started.

“We began playing together shortly after that summer. I invited him to play at my school, Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Anthony also performed at the inaugural concert of the chamber music series I founded in Chattanooga, String Theory, in 2009, just after he performed at President Obama’s inauguration. We recorded his first self-titled album in 2010 and have been recital partners ever since. He recorded a stunning online recital for our first CMNW virtual season during the pandemic. And most recently, we recorded Here With You, our first project during-Covid.

“We discovered Fleur during that same period, through pianist Julius Drake, whom we had invited to record a virtual recital for CMNW during Covid. Julius asked Fleur to sing Schubert’s Winterreise, a role traditionally performed by a male singer. Her performance was stunning in every way. When we met over Zoom, she immediately felt like a long-lost sister, and we invited her to join our first post-Covid festival in 2021. Chamber Music Northwest became her first U.S. festival and a musical home. Since that summer, Fleur’s career has soared. Besides her Grammy win earlier this year, she will be making her debut with the New York Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, and the Salzburg Festival under Esa-Pekka Salonen this season.

“The trio came together when both Anthony and Fleur saw that I was collaborating with each of them, and shared with me that they had been big fans of each other. So I invited both of them to perform together at String Theory, which has become something of an ‘innovation lab’ for new musical collaborations. Fleur and Anthony met for the first time in Chattanooga. We had a blast and decided we wanted to do more concerts together.“

With McGill’s busy orchestral schedule, Barron living abroad, and Chien’s CMNW duties, the touring calendar has its limits. The debut tour opened Nov. 6 at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, then Nov. 7 went to Apex Concerts in Reno. The trio performs in Portland Nov. 8 as part of Chamber Music Northwest, and will travel Nov. 9 to Eugene, Ore. as part of the Oregon Bach Festival.

Because the musical combination of piano, voice and clarinet is “quite unusual and the repertoire is limited,” Chien said, the trio has been able to commission new works with few problems. Composers especially like working with Barron’s almost three-octave voice and multiple-language facility, not to mention Chien’s and McGill’s professionalism and talent.

The concert will premiere two new commissions: Moon Allegory by Alex Ho (see Question and Answer interview with Ho below) and Angels for Mezzo-Soprano, Clarinet and Piano by Imani Winds founder Valerie Coleman. The piece’s title was inspired by a well-known quote in Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address – “the better angels of our nature” – and the first movement sets Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” (inscribed on the Statue of Liberty): 

“Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Expect to hear Barron hum in this three movement work, as she does in Alex Ho’s piece.

Ravaei’s contribution

Second-generation Iranian-American composer Kian Ravaei, 26, rearranged the 10-minute Johannes Brahms Two Songs Op. 91. The songs translate from German as “Stilled Longing” and “Sacred Lullaby” for mezzo, clarinet and piano. The clarinet replaced Brahms’ original viola. The instruments have a similar range.

To make things easier, Barron has a huge range (from B-flat almost two octaves above middle C all the way down to G below middle C. “I love collaborating with musicians who can express emotions,” Ravaei said, “and she does have an unmatched dramatic power. With her remarkably large register that almost goes into the tenor range … well, not everyone will be able to perform it.”

The concert will feature a repeat of Ravaei’s Gulistan which premiered in 2023 at Chamber Music Northwest. He changed out the cello part for the clarinet and “thickened up the piano part to work with the clarinet.” He wrote it specifically for Barron’s voice.

Gulistan is a 13th-century Persian collection of poems and stories that teaches wisdom. Iranian school kids often memorize parts of it, and it has become popular in the West as well.

The piece is sung in Persian, English and Azerbaijani, all languages Ravaei knows – though he says his Azerbaijani is limited to “bad words … My parents speak it when they don’t want me to hear or understand what they’re saying.” Ravaei says his Gulistan is his metaphorical garden collection of poems and stories. The original Gulistana was inspired by the poet Sa’di. Ravaei explains that he “chose folk songs that make reference to flowers, each with different metaphorical implications.”

Ravaei’s specific explanation:

“Part 1 combines the traditional Azerbaijani song ‘Sari Gelin’ with the American folk song ‘Wildwood Flower.’ The former describes a man helplessly longing for his distant lover, while the latter tells the story of a heartbroken woman whose lover has abandoned her. I intertwine the songs, suggesting a dialogue between two inconsolable lovers, each pining for the other. Part 2 unites two metaphorical commentaries on the nature of love: the traditional Iranian song ‘Saye Chaman’ and the English folk song ‘Seeds of Love.’ I set the Iranian melody in an American folk style, and the English melody in a style evoking Iranian classical music. The melodies are often presented in counterpoint – a kind of musical metaphor for the mixture of cultures in my own life,” as Barron has in hers.

The name

And what does the name Afiori mean, anyway? Once again, flowers pop up. “Fiori” is an Italian word meaning flowers, or patterns of flowers. “It’s a subtle nod to our names,” said Chien. “`A’ is for Anthony, `ri’ for Gloria and `fiori ’for Fleur. The name also carries a sense of fragrance and bloom, a wonderful sentiment.”

Trio Afiori performs on Saturday, November 8, in Lincoln Performance Hall. Tickets and more information are available here.

Moon Allegory

Composer Alex Ho grew up in London as the son of pharmacists who emigrated to England from Hong Kong. He has two sisters who are medical doctors. He has taken a different direction: At 31, he has already composed prolifically, though Moon Allegory is his first commission with the newly formed Trio Afiori. He lives in Great Britain’s Nottingham, and describes his cultural identity as British-Chinese.

His web site biography notes that he studied music at Oxford University and graduated with first-class honors before completing a master’s in composition at Cambridge University, where he was awarded the Arthur Bliss Prize in Composition for his final portfolio that attained the highest mark across the university. In 2024, he completed a doctorate at the Royal College of Music.

Winner of the UK Critics’ Circle Young Artist Award 2021 for his “compelling and individual” works, Ho’s music and stage works have been described as “insidiously bold” (Opera Magazine), “menacing and poetic” (The Guardian), and “important and impressive” (Opera Today). He is resident composer at Glyndebourne Opera (2023-26) and was formerly Artist-in-Residence at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier (2021-24), and Associate Composer at Oxford International Song Festival (2022-23).

Oregon ArtsWatch asked him these questions via email in early November about “Moon Allegory,” one of Trio Afiori’s new commissions that will premiere during its United States’ “Heritage” tour that stops in Portland for a Nov. 8 performance at Portland State University’s intimate Lincoln Hall. The answers and questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Oregon ArtsWatch: When did you realize you were a composer? 

Alex Ho: I suppose when it became my primary source of income!

OAW: How do you compose?

Ho: I start composing with mind maps. The most important thing to establish first is the “point” of the piece, which I find most useful to articulate in words. The music comes last, and my usual process is to compose everything in my head without piano or playback. The first rehearsal is always exciting as it means I hear the sounds that have lived in my head live for the first time!

OAW: Do you play an instrument?

Ho: I grew up playing piano and violin.

OAW: Who encouraged you along your musical pathway?

Ho: I wrote a few truly terrible pieces at school but had a wonderful teacher in Sinan Savaşkan, who taught me some key fundamental lessons, (such as how to use Sibelius notation software!), which would help me massively later on. It was at university that I started taking composing more seriously. Of all classes that inspired me to compose, it was my music analysis classes with Dan Grimley. He opened up a completely new appreciation of music, showing how music “works.”

OAW: What inspired Moon Allegory?

Ho: Trio Afiori’s Mezzo-Soprano Fleur (Barron) mentioned there was an interest in exploring a theme of ‘heritage’ for the concert and the tour. I had been thinking for some time about the moon goddess in Chinese mythology, Chang’e, who was exiled to the moon after drinking the elixir of immortality. I thought the idea of casting Fleur as a moon goddess was cool so I ran with it!

Program note: For the last 3,000 years, the goddess of the Moon, Chang’e, has been celebrated during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is tradition to gather with loved ones to share mooncakes and give thanks to the prosperity and joy we have around us. “Moon Allegory” is an imagined portrait of Chang’e. It is said that she was exiled to the moon having drunk the elixir of immortality. Separated from her husband for eternity, Chang’e symbolises the enchantment of the moon in its distant beauty, its beguiling otherworldliness, and its comforting omnipresence.

OAW: Aside from the musicianship of the artists, the notes, and the structure of the piece, what should the uninitiated in your work listen for in Moon Allegory?

Ho: Moon Allegory does not feature any words. I was interested in portraying the moon goddess as an otherworldly being whose language we don’t understand. The opening section, which explores an idea of beguiling distance, is completely hummed. It’s only after this opening that Fleur opens her mouth to sing, as if trying to speak to us.

OAW: There is a lot of theatricality to your work, for example that plastic-bag piece, audience participation, installations, movement, space, silence. Does Moon have any of these elements?

Ho: The theatricality in my work is linked to the importance of storytelling in my music. Although Moon Allegory is not theatrical in a performed sense, I hope the music tells the story of Chang’e that features drama!

OAW: What elements will the new Moon piece have that are similar to or different from some of your other pieces?

Ho: I’ve written quite a few pieces for voice but without text. I love playing around with the different colours of different mouthshapes. Sometimes I feel we forget the timbral qualities of voices because we are so obsessed with text text text!

OAW: Descriptions and markers of your style include delicate textures, everyday sounds, sound and performance becoming one. Do they apply to Moon?

Ho: Hmmm, less so.

OAW: How did you collaborate with Trio Afiori’s Gloria Chien, Anthony McGill and Fleur Barron?

Ho: I had a lovely first call with Fleur (Barron) and Gloria (Chien) to hear more about the things they were interested in and went from there.

OAW: How do you know the Trio Afiori members? My understanding is that you’ve worked with Fleur before.

Ho: I’ve had the huge pleasure of working with Fleur for the last four years and we’ll be working on our fourth and biggest collaboration next year for which I’m hugely excited. Her openness and stage presence are dream qualities for me as a composer. It’s been equally awesome to write for Gloria and Anthony for the first time. As with all my first collaborations with artists, I watched A LOT of videos of them performing online to get a sense of their styles and qualities.

OAW: Which composers have been influential and why?

Ho: The composers whose work I constantly come back to are Du Yun – an important mentor of mine – and Witold Lutosławski. I find the ‘stories’ in their music utterly captivating.

OAW: Aside from the music and the notes, which of these are most important to you and your work? Cultural hybridity, emotional engagement, silence, gesture, space, collaboration, identity issues, intimate scale, story-telling?

Ho: All of these are important to me. It’s tough to expand on all of these right now without a conversation! Collaboration is a key part of my practice, though, and I absolutely adore making things for specific people who often become dear friends.

OAW: Do these words describe your work: “contemporary,” “classical,” “experimental,” or do you have a better way to describe your body of work?

Ho: I don’t pay much attention to genre labels. They tend to raise more questions than anything else.

OAW: What do you do for fun and pleasure aside from music?

Ho: I used to play chess competitively growing up and rediscovered playing it online over lockdown. This became a real issue when I wrote a piece about chess … procrastination and composition became dangerously blurred. You can hear Gambit premiered by Riot Ensemble at Limina Festival Salzburg:

OAW: if you had a dinner party, which five famous people would you invite?

Ho: I’d invite the players of West Ham United (London soccer league) to ask why they are playing so badly this season.