Sin Fronteras Trio – , , violin from Brownsville, Texas will perform at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. as part of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts’ 2015-2016 Chamber Music Series

Kenneth Saxon, piano Katherine Decker, cello Martha Placeres, violin

The Sin Fronteras Trio will perform outstanding works from the repertoire including Haydn's sunny and melodic Trio in D Major and Mendelssohn's dramatic and scintillating trio in D minor. In addition pianist Kenneth Saxon will perform some seldom heard Bolivian cuecas by composer Simeon Roncal. These miniature works feature the dancing rhythms and colorful melodies of the Andes.

Pianist Kenneth Saxon has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist on three continents, including appearances at the Esplanade in Singapore and performances at the IBLA Grand Prize in Ibla, Sicily where he was awarded special recognition as an Outstanding Performer. Known for his wide-ranging repertoire, he has given numerous premieres while also exploring in depth the standard repertoire from Bach to Bartok. His performances are characterized by the passionate commitment of his playing, the clarity of his musical ideas, and his dedication to a beautiful sound.

In 2005, Saxon released his first solo recording, 13 Preludes, Op. 32 by (Plum 052). Saxon has given complete performances of the Op. 32 Preludes on numerous occasions in the United States, Mexico, and Italy. Listeners have noted the pianist's dedication to Rachmaninoff's score and his success in bringing the music to life as the composer intended it.

He has recorded Kawai Shiu’s “clear shade” for the CD, music of kawai shiu (SSR0004) and Shiu’s “Winter Tide” for the CD, eXchange:China (CRI805). During the spring of 2005, he premiered Shiu’s piano piece la negacion de simbolos which was written for him. In the spring of 2012, Saxon’s contemporary music ensemble, Sin Fronteras performed the music of Kawai Shiu during a special visiting composer event at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

As a collaborative pianist Saxon has performed hundreds of concerts. Notable collaborators include performers Alexa Still, Stafford and Rebecca Turner, Jonathan Noffsinger, Andrea Dawson, composer Sir , and conductors Frederick Fennel and Louis Lane.

He holds a DMA in piano performance from the University of Alabama where he was awarded a Graduate Council Fellowship. His teachers include Amanda Penick, Helen Ramsaur, Elizabeth Buday, Anthony di Bonaventura and Bela Nagy.

Dr. Katherine Decker, cello, is the Assistant Professor of Cello and Double Bass at the University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley. She made her solo debut with the Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra in 2001 and since then, has performed extensively as a solo and chamber artist. Since 2011, Dr. Decker has been a member of the award-winning ensemble, enhakē. This contemporary classical chamber music ensemble has been awarded the Grand Prize at the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition (2009), First Prize at the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition (2008), received the Judges’ Special Recognition Prize at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition (2008), was awarded the James and Lola Faust Chamber Music Scholarship (2009), was a finalist of the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition (2011), was a semi-finalist at the Concert Artists Guild Competition (2009) and also received the American Composers Forum’s Encore grant in addition to multiple Musical Associate Grants from FSU.

They have held residencies at the OK Mozart festival (2008-2013), Texas A & M University, University of Costa Rica, Bach Institute of Music (San Jose, Costa Rica), National Superior Institute of Music (Moravia, Costa Rica), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, Brasil), Federal University of Goias (Brasil), Universidade de Brasilia and Mesa State College in addition to performances at the Pan-Music Festival at the Seoul Arts Center (South Korea) and on the James A. Sclater Chamber Music Series (Mississippi College), the Tallahassee Artist Series, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Newman Series, Appleton Museum Chamber Series (Ocala, FL) and Friday Musicale concert series (Jacksonville, FL) to name a few. enhakē performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in both 2008 and 2010.

They have recently been invited serve as the Chamber Ensemble in residence for the Albany Symphony Orchestra (Albany, GA) where they act as principal players within the symphony and perform multiple chamber concerts each season. They have recorded extensively and can be heard on NPR stations across the country as well as on their Naxos label disc (released 11/2011) that includes the premier recordings of Libby Larsen’s Rodeo Queen of Heaven and Peter Lieuwen’s Gulfstream. Their latest CD, enhake: the Piazzolla Project will be released in the fall of 2015.

Before her time with enhakē, Dr. Decker was a member of the Eppes String Quartet with whom she performed throughout the United States and as a part of the Promising Artists of the 21st Century series in Costa Rica. Dr. Decker has also participated in the Texas Music Festival (Quartet Artist in Residence), the International Festival and Institute at Round Top, Meadowmount School of Music and the Miami Quartet’s Advanced String Quartet Seminar. Additionally she has performed with numerous orchestras including the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony, the Elgin Symphony and the Albany Symphony Orchestr. She has performed in master classes with Zuill Bailey, Thomas Landschoot, the Miami String Quartet, and Wesley Baldwin. Dr. Decker received her MM and DMA from the Florida State University and has studied under Daniel Morganstern, Paul Olefsky and Gregory Sauer.

Dr. Decker has also been credited by Mr. Daniel Morganstern for her work in helping to develop the book, Fundamentals of Cello Technique, currently published by International Music Company. Published in 2012 by IMC, she co-edited Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor Opus 129 Commentary and Practice Exercises for Cello and Optional Second Cellowith Mr. Morganstern. She also does extensive research in the field of unknown 19thcentury cello repertoire and published her treatise on Georg Goltermann’s cello music in 2011.

Violinist Martha Placeres, who is originally from Mexico, serves as String Studies and Symphony Orchestra Director at the University of Texas at Brownsville. She has a Bachelors Degree from the Puebla State Conservatory of Music in Violin Performance, a Masters Degree in Music Education from the University of Texas at Brownsville and a Doctorate in Orchestral Conducting from Texas Tech University.

As a music educator advocate, Dr. Placeres created and developed the string and orchestra programs at the University of Texas at Brownsville where she currently teaches instrumental conducting, violin and viola and conducts the UTB Symphony and String Orchestras. She has also been involved in bringing string education to the city of Brownsville by founding the UTB String Project which led to the creation of the Brownsville SMART Orchestra and Skinner Elementary String Project. She is an active clinician and adjudicator for the Texas Music Educators Association Orchestra Division in Regions 28, 22 and 15.

Dr. Placeres was given an Award in November 2008 as “Woman of the Year in the Arts” in the State of Puebla, Mexico. The Award “Carmen Serdán Alatriste” is only given to women from Puebla who have an outstanding career and have contributed to the culture in the State.

As a conductor, Dr. Placeres has being featured with different orchestras in Mexico such as the Puebla State Conservatory of Music Youth Symphony, Puebla State Symphony Orchestra and University of Tamaulipas Symphony Orchestra as well as the Texas Tech University Symphony and String Orchestras. Dr. Placeres was recently invited to conduct the Camerata Angelopolitana in Italy and the Lustenau Sinfonietta in Austria, and in 2014 she was appointed the Executive Director of the American Symposium of Orchestral and Band Conducting at the Puebla State Conservatory of Music in Mexico.