PUTNEY-Yellow Barn’s 17th season of Artist Residencies brings 2025 to a close with the Ize Trio, a multi-cultural ensemble drawing influences from jazz, classical, and Middle Eastern music. Their weeklong residency culminates in a free public performance Friday, Dec. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in the Big Barn.
Composer and pianist Chase Morrin is a familiar presence at Yellow Barn and in Putney, reaching back to 2012, when he spent three summers in Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program.
Of this latest venture, Morrin writes: “The story of Ize Trio begins in Boston at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. This special program and community founded by Danilo Pérez brings students and mentors together from all over the globe to collaborate, innovate, and create global diplomacy through music.” He says they officially began the Ize Trio “seeking to bring our musical backgrounds from the U.S., Cyprus, and Palestine to the table and connecting through concepts of improvisation and Global Jazz.”
Ize Trio has performed at the United Nations and Panama Jazz Festival, and received a Jazz Road Residencies Grant, Live Arts Boston Grant, and Berklee Recording Grant, among others, according to material on the artists’ website. In 2024, they released their first album, The Global Suites, to critical acclaim.
Through this residency, Morrin and his colleagues George Lernis (percussion) and Naseem Alatrash (cello) had the aim of furthering the mission of the trio, which members describe as “continuing to hone the nuances of playing and connection through arranging traditional Arabic songs from Lernis’ home of Palestine and Alatrash’s home of Cyprus.” In addition, they intended to draw inspiration from those songs and to create new compositions inspired by the musical rules that govern them.
Advance reservations for this free concert are recommended but not required. Tickets can be reserved in advance by calling 802-387-6637. For more information, visit yellowbarn.org.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.