Wu Han, Philip Setzer and David Finckel to play Beethoven piano trios Feb. 23 at Schwab

Pianist Wu Han, violinist Philip Setzer and cellist David Finckel will perform a program of Ludwig van Beethoven piano trios at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Schwab Auditorium. The program will include Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1; Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3; and Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, “Ghost.”

The concert is the first in a two-season offering by the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State of Beethoven piano trios.

Purchase tickets, which are $42 for an adult, $15 for a University Park student and $32 for a person 18 and younger. A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.

Han began her musical studies as a young child in Taiwan. Within a few years, she won first prize in all of the country’s major competitions. She has performed on the world’s leading stages, including at Carnegie and Wigmore halls.

In the 1980s, Han moved to the United States to continue her studies, where she met and later married Finckel. In 1997, the couple formed ArtistLed, the classical music genre’s first musician-directed Internet-based recording company. The two also co-founded Music@Menlo, an annual Silicon Valley-area chamber festival and workshop program.

Finckel, former Emerson String Quartet cellist, is co-artistic director of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Today and Korea’s Mendelssohn Fellowship. He teaches cello at The Juilliard School and music at Stony Brook University. He has led master classes and established training workshops for outstanding young musicians throughout the world.

Setzer, a founding and current member of Emerson String Quartet, performs often as part of a trio with Han and Finckel. He is on the faculty at Stony Brook, presents master classes worldwide and teaches at Heifetz Institute at Mary Baldwin University.

Complimentary parking for the performance will be offered at the Eisenhower Parking Deck, and complimentary wheelchair-accessible shuttle service will be provided from the parking deck to Schwab.

Find more information about the trio and related engagement events—including a Tuesday, Feb. 21, Classical Coffeehouse at Penn State’s Hintz Family Alumni Center.

Watch the trio perform the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Trio in D minor.

This presentation is a component of the Center for the Performing Arts Classical Music Project. With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the project provides opportunities to engage students, faculty and the community with classical music artists and programs.

Elinor C. Lewis sponsors the concert. The Nina C. Brown Endowment provides support. WPSU is the media sponsor.