Piano and cello duo to perform March 28 at RB library

The Friends of the Rancho Bernardo Library presents the piano/cello duo of Ines Irawati and Erin Breene performing a concert at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 28 at the library, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive.

The concert, part of a series of classical music concerts, is free and open to the public. Free-will donations for the musicians are encouraged. It will be held in the second-floor community room.

Irawati and Breene will perform several compositions, including Robert Schumann’s “Adagio and Allegro,” originally written for horn and piano but adapted for cello and piano; Johannes Brahms’ “1^st Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor”; and Astor Piazzolla’s “Le Grand Tango for Cello and Piano.”

Irawati said she and Breene will also perform a couple of other, smaller pieces, including Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Oblivion,” but the compositions by Schumann, Brahms and Piazzolla will form the “main course” of the concert.

The duo have been performing together for about 15 years, Irawati said, after connecting through social media and realizing they knew many of the same people. She had unknowingly seen Breene perform years previously, she said, while attending a concert in which one of her former professors was performing. “The cellist (in that concert) was Erin, though I didn’t know it yet. Years later, when we met, I said, ‘I’ve seen you play before,’” Irawati said.

Irawati called their meeting “like kismet” and that they connected instantly.

Irawati and Breene mostly perform as the Aviara Trio, along with Breene’s husband, violinist Robert Schumitzky. Irawati said it is a “special treat” when she and Breene perform as a duo, especially when they perform compositions they have previous done as a duo in the past. “It’s always so nice to come back to (previously performed compositions). It feels good. We’re different musicians now.”

Irawati also performs as a solo recitalist and as part of the Five Ensemble. She is the vocal coach and collaborative piano faculty at Point Loma Nazarene University.

Breene is a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and performs with the Pacific Symphony. She is also the principal cellist with the Segerstrom Center Broadway Dance series in Costa Mesa.

Other upcoming classical concerts at the Rancho Bernardo Library include Travis Maril and Toni James on April 25 and the West Coast Wind Quintet on May 23.

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