THE MEININGEN TRIO Jonathan Cohler is recognized as “an absolute master of the clarinet” (The Clarinet Magazine). Through his performances around the world and on record, he has thrilled an ever-widening audience with his musicianship and total technical command. His technical feats have been hailed as “superhuman” and Fanfare Magazine has placed him in the pantheon of legendary musicians: “one thinks of Dinu Lipatti.” His many recordings have received resounding accolades and awards including nomination for the INDIE Award, the Outstanding Recording mark of the American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine’s Best CDs of The Year selection, and top ratings from magazines, radio stations, and record guides worldwide. In recent years, Mr. Cohler has teamed up with multiple-award-winning Lithuanian pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite to form today's leading clarinet-piano duo, which is featured in three recent recordings: American Tribute, Romanza, and Rhapsodie Française. His latest CD Cohler plays and conducts Weber with the renowned Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra was featured on the cover of the March 2017 issue of Fanfare Magazine. Mr. Cohler is Professor of Clarinet and Chamber Music at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a Vandoren, Rossi, and Gao artist. Cellist Sebastian Bäverstam is a winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. He has performed the Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 with the BSO at Symphony Hall. In 2007 Mr. Bäverstam substituted for Lynn Harrell with the Cape Cod Symphony on only six hours notice and delighted the audience playing Schumann’s Cello Concerto. He was praised by the Cape Cod Times for his “insightful musicianship and poetic feeling.” Mr. Bäverstam has toured as a soloist with orchestras in China, Venezuela and Brazil. He has appeared multiple times on the nationally syndicated radio show From the Top, participated in a PBS documentary filmed at Carnegie Hall and performed the complete Bach Cello Suites at Williams College. He was also invited to perform at several notable music festivals around the globe including the Aspen Festival, the Banff Center in Canada, the Verbier Festival Academy and the International Music Academy in Switzerland under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Mendelssohn Cup Piano Competition in Italy, Rasa Vitkauskaite has won top prizes at numerous prestigious international piano competitions including First Prizes at Les Rencontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes (Belgium), the competition in Taurisano (Italy), and the Rubinstein Piano Competition (Paris). In 2007, Rasa won a Kathryn Wasserman Davis $10,000 grant that supported her tour promoting peace in Israel. Recently, she was awarded the Westmont Fellowship at the Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara, California. In 2014, Ongaku Records published her debut solo CD Reflections to great critical acclaim in Gramophone, Fanfare and MusicWeb International. Last season featured her debut recording as soloist with orchestra performing Liszt/Weber Polonaise brillante recorded at the Hungarian National Radio. This season she will record Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 to be released on a new CD with the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466. Rasa has performed as soloist with the Kaunas, Latvian, Kaliningrad Philharmonic Orchestras, I Solisti di Perugia, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and the Boston Conservatory Orchestra. Her most recent concert engagements include performances at festivals in China, South Korea, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hungary, and the United States. Rasa performs regularly with world-renowned clarinetist Jonathan Cohler. She is also the pianist of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Rasa is a faculty member at the Concord Conservatory.