Third Wheel Trio

Brought together by the desire to perform unconventional music, Third Wheel is a woodwind trio unlike any other. With a repertoire spanning more than four centuries of music, Third Wheel expands the definition of chamber music with an unusual instrumentation and fresh, youthful perspective. Founded in 2007, the group is dedicated to seeking out lesser-known works by contemporary composers, and also steps outside the boundaries of classical music to perform works borrowed from jazz, folk and rock. In 2008, Third Wheel was selected by Young Artists International, in conjunction with the cities of Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, to appear in various Southern California music series such as Laguna Beach Live and The Previews. Third Wheel frequently performs pre-concert music for the Pacific Symphony, and has performed as guest artists at Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Valley College, Mt. San Antonio College and Biola University and Chapman University. Highlights of some non-traditional performance venues include Live at the Lounge at the Comedy & Magic Club, intimate Contrapuntal Hall and the Huntington Library. Third Wheel was a 2010 recipient of a Seed Money Grant from New York Women Composers. In 2011, Third Wheel was the featured ensemble for the American Composers Forum-Los Angeles new composition concert. The West Coast Composers Forum featured Third Wheel in a new composition concert in 2012, and recorded an album of the same works. In 2013, Third Wheel was named a statewide finalist in the San Diego MTAC Chamber Music Competition.

Karin Kantenwein Fabiero is an orchestral performer, teacher and chamber musician. She has performed with the Orquestra Sinfonica UANL in Monterrey, Mexico, and with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra on their “Spirit of Louisiana” tour. She has also performed in the pit orchestra with the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Mass. Mrs. Fabiero earned a Bachelor of Music in flute performance from the University of Southern California, studying with Gary Woodward and James Walker, and she earned a Master of Music in flute performance from the University of North Texas, studying with Terri Sundberg. During her college studies, she had the opportunity to work with well-respected conductors and composers such as Robert Reynolds, Sergei Comissiona, Eugene Corporon, Anshel Brusilow, John Williams and Morten Lauridsen. While at UNT, Mrs. Fabiero performed with the esteemed North Texas Wind Symphony. She can be heard with this ensemble on Klavier Recording Project and GIA WindWorks: Poetics, Passions,Altered States and Transformations. Recently, she has performed as soloist with the Orange County Symphony, and been a substitute with Pacific Symphony and the Southeast Symphony. She is a member of the Music Teacher's Association of California and the honorary music society Pi Kappa Lambda. Mrs. Fabiero teaches at Claremont Community School of Music, Mt. San Antonio College, and Cypress College.

Dr. Rebecca Rivera enjoys an active career as a performer and educator. As a bassoon and contrabassoon player, Dr. Rivera has recorded for several film and music projects and performed with many ensembles throughout Southern California including Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Riverside Philharmonic, Debut Orchestra, American Youth Symphony Orchestra, Golden State Pops Orchestra,Southeast Symphony, Torrance Symphony,Westchester Symphony, Peninsula Symphony and the Pasadena Symphony and Pops Orchestras. Dr. Rivera won the Southeast Symphony concerto competition in 2001. Dr. Rivera recently performed with Elton John at the 125th Anniversary concert for Yamaha. In addition, Rebecca has performed with Wayne Shorter, recorded Jazz Ballet with Louie Bellson at Capitol Records, performed and recorded for Jackie Evancho and appeared in a Verizon commercial. Dr. Rivera has performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cerritos Performing Arts Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Orpheum and The Los Angeles Music Center. Dr. Rivera is a guest artist on a CD by flamenco latino guitarist Tony Ybarra, Fiesta. In addition to maintaining her private teaching studio, Dr. Rivera is a lecturer at the University of Southern California and teaches reed-making workshops throughout the year. Dr. Rebecca Rivera completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in bassoon performance at the University of Southern California, studying with Rose Corrigan and Judith Farmer.

Clarinetist Laura Stoutenborough performs as a freelance musician throughout Southern California. She has performed with orchestras across the Southwest, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Opera, Long Beach Opera, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Arizona Opera, and the Tucson Chamber Artists. Laura was the Principal Clarinet of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2013. Laura received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2010, studying with Yehuda Gilad, and received her Bachelor of Music degree as a student of Burt Hara at the University of Minnesota. As a concert soloist, Laura’s performance highlights include performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, performing Yerusha by David Stock with the USC Contemporary Music Ensemble, and winning the 2008 concerto competition at the Music Academy of the West. Passionate about teaching, Laura has a private clarinet studio in the Los Angeles area, where her students have participated in the All-State and All-Southern honor groups, and the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble. Laura has also given clarinet masterclasses as a guest artist for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, at Waldorf College in Iowa, and at the University of Minnesota.

Concert Dates

  • March 25, 2017 - Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, California

15 one-minute selections

    a stubborn bunny has an argument with its friend
    Katherine Bodor
    Katherine Bodor graduated in 2016 from Washington University in St. Louis with a BaS in Mechanical Engineering and a second major in music composition. She is currently interning at The Vocal Company while pursuing music full-time, and will attend composition graduate school in fall 2017.
    Recently, when I was having a bad day, a friend of mine cheered me up with an absurdly cute comic she drew about fluffy bunnies having an argument. Its lighthearted, adorable nature put a smile on my face, and serves as the inspiration behind this whimsical piece.
    Prelude to the Mushroom Forest
    Alec Wood
    I am a sophomore at Grinnell College who is studying music and French. I had no formal training in theory or composition until I came to my college. I am also a pianist and I took lessons for a few years when I was young, then self-taught until college. This piece depicts a whimsical descent into the enigmatic "Mushroom Forest". Off-kilter rhythms and rapid gestures traded off between the flute and clarinet capture the at once frightening, puzzling and mystical experience of the adventurers that find themselves in this land where the mushroom caps furnish tall canopies.
    Midnight Blue
    Cindi Hsu
    Born in Taiwan, Cindi Hsu currently resides in NYC where she is on the composition and piano faculty of the Music Conservatory of Westchester. The West Point Band premiered one of her recent works at the Trinity Church in NYC on September 11, 2016. “Midnight Blue”was created for an ensemble of three equal instruments. A haunting melody stated alternately by all three instruments endures in the listener’s mind, like the aftertaste of flavors that linger in the mouth after sipping a fine old and rare wine. One wishes midnight could last longer!
    Tricycle
    Robert Strobel
    Robert Strobel (b. 1988) undertakes the task of modestly composing fresh and expressive art music for our time. Open to the variegated musical voices of today, he comfortably expresses himself in the postmodern era. For “Tricycle,” imagine a device that is way too clunky for any reasonable adult to use as a reliable form of transportation. This perhaps vaguely hearkens to my thoughts as I heard or composed it. Hints of La Gazza Ladra appear in the middle section.
    Roulade
    Phil Taylor
    Phil’s ambient works are released on iTunes, compositions have been performed by Swiss Contemporary Music Festival, Annelle Gregory, Kathryn Tickell and The Side, Maksim Velichkin, Nautilus Brass Quintet, Courtney Sherman, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Livas Clarinet Quartet. Larger pieces workshopped by the Maggini Quartet, Emily Howard, Sally Beamish and Michael Finnissy. A play on the words Third Wheel : like a chocolate roulade, the piece starts out light and fluffy and gradually becomes heavier and more ponderous as it is consumed!
    March of the Trapezoids
    Sy Brandon
    Arizona Centennial Composer, Dr. Sy Brandon is a professor emeritus of music from Millersville University. His awards include WITF-FM's 25th Anniversary Composition Contest and the Hillcrest Wind Ensemble Composition Contest. He is the recipient of the 2018 Thor Johnson Memorial Commission sponsored by the Delta Omicron Foundation. A trapezoid is a geometric figure that contains two parallel lines and two lines that are not parallel. This short March contains parallel elements and contrasting elements, hence the title. Rhythm, dynamics, and articulation create the contrasts while imitation and repetition of melodic ideas create the parallelism.
    Viscimetry
    Liam Moore
    Liam Moore writes music for himself and anybody else who wants it. His passions include art, poetry, the origins of the universe, singing and staying out of trouble. Viscimetry is a light and playful piece intended to evoke the creation of whorls in a glass of whiskey when water is added to it, known as “viscimation.” The two liquids mix together and the glass is drunk, down to the last drop.
    Hummingbird
    Jamie Hopkings
    Jamie Hopkings is a composer/orchestrator living in Toronto. Having served as an orchestrator for other composers' music, he is now stepping to the fore with his own compositions. There is a sweet, yet mercurial quality that surrounds about the hummingbird. Seemingly innocent, yet mysterious. "A route of evanescence With a revolving wheel" (Emily Dickinson)
    Small Trio
    Nadin Polyakova de Zuniga
    Female Russian (born in Kazakhstan 1987) 2010 University of Arts (Bachelor degree of musicology, Astana) 2014 Berklee College of Music (composition for film and TV, online-course) 2015 laureate of International Open Competition in Author's Music Video ("Mediamusic", Moscow) Currently live in Central America
    Spun Out
    Kevin Rose
    Based in the New York City area, Kevin’s compositions are influenced by rock and jazz, as much as contemporary classical music. Kevin received his Bachelor in Music in Composition from Indiana University, with graduate studies in Film Scoring at NYU. Kevin is an also an active French horn player. Spun Out is a short exploration and realization of the inner movement and power found in single tones and intervals. The work invites the listener to ride along as the trio moves from inner to outer energy, and back again.
    Wind Trio
    Kwaumane Brown
    Kwaumane Brown, born in Boston, Massachusettes graduated from the Longy School of Music of Bard College earning an undergraduate degree for composition. "Wind Trio" begins quietly, develops scalar and arpeggiated gestures, and ends loudly.
    Lonely Waltz
    Samantha Hogan
    Samantha Hogan is a composer based out of The Twin Cities, MN.Fueled by coffee, compassion, and a combustible imagination, her music is influenced by a variety of styles from Classical, Rock, Jazz and Video Game music. Her works encompass chamber,solo, multimedia, and large ensemble pieces. Lonely Waltz is a dance for the things that go bump in the night; the ghosts of the unknown,lost and forgotten souls.
    Three Women in a Boat
    Jean-Pierre Vial
    Jean-Pierre Vial, a French composer, is a former software designer. At an early age, he learned the piano, the organ, and composed several pieces for both instruments. Over the last three years, various soloists and small ensembles have performed his music throughout Europe and the USA. A short piece that swings like a Venetian barcarola and is dedicated to the Third Wheel trio. The name of the piece winks at the famous novel by Jerome K. Jerome.
    Abstraction in Blue
    Ken Metz
    Ken Metz is a composer who loves music and has devoted his life to it. He teaches music theory and serves as assistant chair of the music department at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. The music is an abstraction of the composer imagining the Third Wheel Trio performing the piece. They are smiling when finished. The piece features intricate ensemble passages that I hope are fun to play. The listener blessed with synesthesia will likely hear a lot of the color blue.
    Third Wheel Cantus
    Mateo Soto
    Mateo Soto was born in 1972 in Spain. He studied composition with Manuel Seco de Arpe. He also express his gratitude to Salvador Brotons, Tomás Marco and Antón García Abril. He received several composition prizes and His works are published, played and recorded by renowned performers.