Hello everyone!
Welcome to our blog! We are thrilled to be here, and thrilled to have you with us. I don't think any of us had any sort of plan to start a new string trio in the midst of the pandemic, so it seemingly came out of thin air and was propelled forward by a force that could not be stopped. Jessie Ramsay, violinist and instigator of the Indigo Trio, was in Berlin at the time of creation, whereas John Sellick and I (Alyssa Ramsay), were in less-picturesque-but-still-okay Winnipeg. She had stumbled upon an incredible classical music promoter, Prairie Debut, who was looking for "Close-to-Home" artists. While far, far, away and longing for the prairies, she thought that being on their roster would be the perfect way to create opportunities back home to perform with me, her sister, and John, a fantastic and wild-haired violist she had performed with at ScotiaFest. I, myself, had only played with John once, two years back, and for a gig, but I did remember him being friendly, fun, and a great violist. What more could one ask for? And Jessie and I, being sisters, had been playing together forever so I knew what that would be like! Well, as it happened, Prairie Debut accepted our application, so we officially become a trio and were so grateful to be added to their roster for the 2021-2022 season.
Shortly thereafter, we got accepted into the Banff Centre's program, Evolution: Classical, where musical "entities" get to work with mentors from across North America to curate a meaningful and interesting livestream program, as well as delve into our reason for being. As a brand new string trio, there was much to consider! What actually brought us together? There was, of course, our love of music, the fact that Jessie and I likely needed to have someone else to balance us out, the opportunity with Prairie Debut, and our desire to bring classical music to rural communities that don't have as many opportunities to experience live chamber music. While these were rather key to our inception, our deep love and connection to the prairies was what mattered the most. Despite all of the horrible and divisive things that are happening in our world today, we discovered that exploring music and our experiences through the lens of our prairie identity was one way to bring a sense of shared humanity to our audiences, ever so hopeful that it would further unity, peace, and beauty wherever music would take us.
That, at least, is where we currently are at in the search for our "why", and we hope that you will join us in our journey as it evolves and develops into something ever more meaningful and fulfilling to both us and to our audience.
Until next time,
Alyssa Ramsay, cellist of the Indigo Trio