01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 25, 2006

BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer

Providence's Solati Trio is headed for Brazil. But you can hear what the group will be playing there in a couple of concerts at the First Unitarian Church in Providence.

Solati Trio has two local appearances scheduled: the first on Wednesday, the second on July 19.

Then it's off to Rio de Janeiro in August to perform at the largest classical music festival in South America. The Solati also plans a stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it might also play several concerts.

The trio got word a couple of months ago that it is on the roster of the 12th Rio International Cello Encounter, a major festival started by English cellist David Chew.

Chew heard about the group through a Brazilian student of Solati pianist Ludmilla Lifson, who teaches at the Longy School of Music in Harvard Square. The man's wife is a professor of Brazilian studies at Harvard, and the couple often travel to Brazil.

While on a trip, the student, who has followed the trio's work, happened to mention the group to Chew, who asked for a CD to sample. That led to a invitation to the two-week festival.

Oddly, the trio will be playing very little Brazilian music, just one short trio called Serrana, by 19th-century composer Henrique Oswald. Otherwise, they'll be playing two programs, possibly three, featuring music by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Shostakovich.

"We're really excited about it," said Hrant Tatian, Solati's cellist.

Musical history

It was Tatian who in the early 1980s first approached Russian-born violinist Sofia Herman and her twin sister, Lifson, about getting together to play trios on an informal basis.

When he first arrived here from Pittsburgh in 1982, Tatian ended up playing in the orchestra for the defunct Concerts on the Island series. That's when he noticed Herman, whose playing stood out, he said.

When Tatian learned that Sofia had a pianist sister, he proposed that the three of them get together.

"Everywhere I've been, I've started a chamber group," said Tatian, who was a member of a string trio in Pittsburgh, as well as principal cellist with the ballet orchestra.

Not long after that, he joined the Rhode Island Philharmonic, where he is still a member of the cello section.

In 1984, the Solati came into being. They were invited to play at Brown, where the twin sisters played sonatas for violin and piano, and then Tatian joined them for the Tchaikovsky Trio.

"It seemed to work," he said.

The following year, the group won the Shoreline Alliance Chamber Music Competition, held in Guilford, Conn.

The trio has since performed throughout New England and in Europe. In 1993, the group played Boston's Jordan Hall, with a program of new pieces written expressly for the members. The following year they played a similar program at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, in New York City.

Noted American composer William Thomas McKinley wrote a triple concerto for the trio, which it performed and recorded in the Czech Republic in 1999. As a result, Solati was invited back to tour the country in 2000, including an appearance in Prague's prestigious Martinu Hall.

Generally, though, Solati played in small Czech towns where the locals would put on dinners after the concert.

"Everything was homemade," said Tatian. "They had their own hams, their own beer."

The Solati also performed twice live on the late Robert J. Lurtsema's Morning Pro Musica radio show on WGBH in Boston.

Now they will be adding concerts in South America to their résumé.

Tatian said the group plans to spend two weeks or more in Brazil and Argentina. Negotiations are underway about playing a series of concerts in Buenos Aires.

Summer schedule

If those concerts come through, Tatian will have to scare up a cello. He is not bringing his own instrument to Rio, but borrowing one from Chew, the founder of the festival. Lugging his cello along would require another seat on the plane at full fare, around $1,000.

"I always buy a seat for it," he said. "It used to be half fare, but those days are long gone."

The members rehearse three times a week, traveling twice a week to Lifson's home in Swampscott, Mass. There is no way to deal with the balance problems between strings and the more percussive sound of the piano without constantly rehearsing, said Tatian.

"It helps keep the playing together," he said.

Before leaving for South America, the Solati will also be playing concerts in churches in New Hampshire and Camden, Maine, where they make an annual stop.

"We like smaller venues," said Tatian. "It's easier to project."

The group has recorded three CDs, which it sells at concerts and on its Web site, www.solati.org.

Wednesday's program features Oswald's Serrana, the second Shostakovich trio and the second Schubert trio in E-Flat. The July 19 concert contains music by Mozart and English choral composer William Mathias, and the third Schumann trio.

Both concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, Benefit and Benevolent Streets. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors, $5 for students. Call (401) 521-2602.

cgray@projo.com / (401) 277-7492