Argenta Trio plays Brewery Sunday

"Chamber music is like a very animated conversation between three interesting people," said violinist Phillip Ruder.

He will join cellist John Lenz and pianist James Winn for a 4 p.m. performance Sunday at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall on King Street.

"We generate a lot of excitement and energy in our performances," Ruder said.

Known collectively as the Argenta Trio (or sometimes a quartet), they are faculty members of the University of Nevada, Reno. They form what some consider one of the finest chamber music groups in the country.

"These are really incredible performers," said the BAC's Kevin Ray.

But there's more to the Sunday afternoon performance than music.

"We also talk about the pieces before we play them," Ruder said. "People have always found that to be a real insight."

Sunday's program will include Haydn's Trio in G Major, Brahms' Trio No. 1 in B Major, Opus 8 and Dvorak's "Dumka" Trio in E Minor, Opus 90.

"The Brahms is a really big trio -- a very exciting piece," pianist Winn said. "It was Brahms' first trio, written in 1853, and he liked it so well that he kept working on it. The revised version of 1890 shows all the compositional cleverness and chamber music experience that he had acquired."

About the Dvorak trio, Winn said, "This was the last chamber work he wrote that includes piano, and it, too, shows a lifetime of musical experience."

Tickets are $14 general admission; $12 BAC members and seniors; $5 students with ID; and free for age 12 and under.

The concert is part of a loose classical and jazz series. Next up is jazz man Lou Tabackin then classical pianist Sara Buechner.

Tickets are available in advance at the Brewery Arts Center, 883-1976, or at the door. Go online for more details at www.breweryarts.org

n n n

The delicious memory of Devincenzi's bruschetta and Flying Pig's Mediterranean pizza still lingers from last weekend's Taste of Downtown. All this Italian action has me thinking about where to get my next fix. There's no question for Saturday night, however: the spaghetti dinner fund-raiser for Vic Clementi is the place to be.

Head to the Carson City Community Center Gymnasium from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for piles of spaghetti and red sauce and join the leagues of locals showing their support for Clementi and his family.

Clementi, who worked on the remodel of the Governor's Mansion, dropped from 226 pounds to 138 1/2 pounds after he learned he had hepatitis C a year ago. On June 4, he received a new kidney and new liver at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Saturday's spaghetti dinner costs $5. If you can't attend, consider making a donation to the Victor Joseph Clementi Benefit Fund at Bank of America, account No. 004966550823.

n n n

Another "don't miss" event Saturday night will catch the eye of our more easterly readers: Maria Muldaur's tribute to Peggy Lee at 8 p.m. at the Barkley Theater in Fallon.

A Seattle Times writer said this of the show, "This collection ... shows Maria Muldaur in top form, singing in a knowing and polished way, while not forsaking her quirkiness and sense of humor. She does justice to Lee's classic 'Fever,' bringing her own sense of phrasing and subtle steaminess to it." I heard Muldaur' "Fever" on National Public Radio the other evening and thought, 'Wow, she's coming to our neck of the woods?'

The Barkley Theater is at 151 E. Park Street in Fallon. Tickets are $15; call (775) 423-1440.

Karl Horeis can be reached at 881-1219 or khoreis@nevadaappeal.com.