COFFS Harbour Music Society’s Spring series will commence next Friday, October 14, with Trio Shoshin performing three works.

Amber Davis on violin, Liz Neville on cello and Bernadette Harvey on piano make up Trio Shoshin, and are counted amongst Australia’s most accomplished musicians.

Ms Davis and Ms Neville are Coffs Coast residents, with the former living at Thora for the past five years and the latter in Gleniffer, for two years.

Ms Davis directs the Bellingen Chamber Orchestra Sinfonia (advanced strings) and teaches a range of students, from young children to adults, out of Bellingen High School.

Originally from Sydney, she studied at the Conservatorium High School and joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), playing in the first violin section for 24 years.

She met Ms Harvey at the Conservatorium High School and Ms Neville when playing with the SSO.

Ms Davis said that working for many years with the SSO was a wonderful experience, but she felt the need to develop further.

She said forming Trio Shoshin was a natural progression to continue to evolve as an artist.

Shoshin is a Buddhist practice of eternal wonderment, having a ‘beginner’s mind’ and being open.

Ms Davis said it means to be ‘raw’ or childlike, even at an advanced level.

She was given a little gold Buddha on a chain as a child and was taken with the mystery of life and, later, Buddhism felt like a comfortable ’fit’.

Ms Davis said the trio’s three chosen pieces represent a triangular journey from the symmetry of Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op 1 No 3 in C Minor to the romantic, almost eclectic Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op 49 of Mendelssohn then to Ravel’s Piano Trio opus 67 A minor, which is “like a fast drone journey across a landscape”.

“It’s like having an entree, a main and a dessert,” she said.

The concert will be preceded by a masterclass, between 1pm and 3pm, about performance development.

Participants can bring a piece of music, poetry, etc and work to develop it into an engaging, successful performance.

Tickets and further information can be found at https://coffsmusicsociety.com.au/.

By Andrew VIVIAN