The Mockingbird Trio formed in 2004 after a wildly successful 50th birthday party that culminated in a concert of new, 21st Century works for contralto, viola, and piano. That event began a creative wave yielding music for the Mockingbird combination from composers across the U.S.A.

The first program, titled “Poet Power,” after a poem by Denise Levertov, included songs by twelve composers who were colleagues and old friends of Ms Anker’s.

The premieres were met with great success, a large audience, and enthusiastic reviews from the Boston Globe. The program has been performed on the East and West Coasts, and broadcast in part on WGBH, Boston and KALW, San Francisco. This concert program, scored for various combinations of contralto, viola and piano, gave rise to a new, lively ensemble, the Mockingbird Trio. Conceived as a group that could perform the Brahms songs scored for its instrumentation as a repertory kernel, the Trio consists of Ms. Anker, pianist John McDonald, and violist Scott Woolweaver.  

Post-concert in 2009 (John McDonald, Elizabeth Anker, Scott Woolweaver)

Happy musicians after a group improvisation on the Brahms lullaby at a Mockingbird Trio concert in Boston, May 7 2011 (Brahms’ birthday). L-R: Scott Woolweaver, John McDonald, Eric Sawyer, Elizabeth Anker, Douglas Johnson, Francine Trester

Since the 2004 concert premiere at the Longy School of Music, the Mockingbird Trio has returned to perform at Longy several times.   The 2004-5 program also included pianist Wayman Chin,   Eventually, the four became three.  The Trio also has given performances in Maine, San Francisco, at Tufts University, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, Jamaica Plain Concerts, Shirley Meeting House and the All-Newton Music School.

The trio now has several complete programs and an chamber opera.