[photo credit: Boston Court Pasadena]
The centerpiece is the Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, which the Boston Court program notes identify as Clara Schumann’s particular favorite among Brahms’s works. Clara Schumann, one of the 19th century’s most accomplished pianists and a trusted musical confidante of Brahms, wrote in her diary of the trio’s second movement: “No other work of Johannes has so entirely transported me.” Brahms composed the trio in the summer of 1886 and premiered it himself in Budapest that December.
The program also includes the Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38, composed between 1862 and 1865, and several of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances. The cello sonata, one of Brahms’s earliest published works for a solo instrument with piano, draws its finale from Bach’s “Art of Fugue.” The Hungarian Dances, originally written for piano four hands and among Brahms’s most widely recognized compositions, round out the evening.
Cellist John Walz, who was born and raised in Pasadena, according to a profile by the Opera League of Los Angeles, anchors the program. Walz is principal cellist of the Los Angeles Opera and previously held the principal chair with the Long Beach Symphony for 20 years, according to his biographical materials. A student of the French cellist Pierre Fournier, Walz co-founded the Pacific Trio in 1979 and has appeared as soloist with more than 150 orchestras on four continents, his biography states.
Violinist Andrew Sords has performed with nearly 300 orchestras across four continents, according to his biographical materials, and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Southern Methodist University. Pianist Timothy Durkovic, a Steinway Artist born in Guatemala City, trained at the Juilliard School and the USC Thornton School of Music and won the Grand Prize at the 1996 Los Angeles Liszt Competition, according to the LA Philharmonic’s artist page.
The trio has previously performed together at Boston Court, the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, and the Palm Springs Concert Series, according to Sords’s biography.
Boston Court’s 99-seat Main Stage places the audience within arm’s reach of the performers. The concert is part of the venue’s 2026 Classical Music Season, supported in part by the Colburn Foundation, according to the Boston Court website.
The concert begins at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, at Boston Court Pasadena, 70 N. Mentor Ave. Tickets are $25 to $52 and are available at bostoncourtpasadena.org or by calling 626-683-6801. Free parking is available behind the building.
“No other work of Johannes has so entirely transported me,” Clara Schumann wrote of the trio’s hushed second movement — music that, on March 12, roughly 99 listeners in Pasadena will hear at a distance of a few feet.
Sords/Walz/Durkovic Trio Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. Cost: $25.00 – $52.00 For more information call: 626-683-6801 Or click here: https://bostoncourtpasadena.org/events/sords-trio/
