The Maier Hall Concert Series closes the 2013-2014 season on Friday, May 9, with a concert by Trio Seraphin from the University of Puget Sound.

The concert begins at 7 p.m.

Trio members are Spinto Soprano Christina Kowalski, clarinetist Jennifer Nelson and pianist Keith Ward. The trio began in 2011 at the University of Puget Sound and has devoted itself to exploring the unique repertoire for piano, clarinet, and voice. Its members are active performers in their own right, and in this trio they join to share the dialogue, intimacy, and interconnection of chamber music.

The group’s program includes “Three Songs of Innocence” by Arnold Cooke, “Three Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 73” by Robert Schumann, “Lieder, Op. 27” by Richard Strauss, “To Be Sung Upon the Water” by Dominick Argento and “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965” by Franz Schubert.

Kowalski is a native of Germany and earned her Master’s Degree in Music and Drama from the Hochschule für Musik und Kunst in Frankfurt am Main. While in Europe, she appeared in productions of the Frankfurt Opera Studio, toured with “Febi Armonici” under Maestro Michael Schneider and appeared in “Poppea” at the Stadttheater Eisenach and the Berlin Philharmonic. She made her debut in the United States as Marzelline in Beethoven’s “Fidelio” at the Mark Theater in Portland and has since performed with Portland Opera, Skagit Opera, Washington East Opera, Rogue Opera, the Metthow Valley Chamber Music Festival, the Seattle and Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestras, Seattle Concert Opera, Olympia Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Vashon Opera, Opera Pacifica, Seattle Opera Guild and Coeur D’Alene Opera.

Kowalski also was the featured Artist at the Bad Salzhausen Sommer Festival in Germany in June 2013. She has been an affiliate artist faculty member at the University of Puget Sound since 2005 and is a newly matriculated doctoral student at the University of Washington.

Nelson received her undergraduate degree in Music Performance from the University of Southern California as a student of Mitchell Lurie and continued her clarinet studies at Temple University, where she was a student of Anthony Gigliotti. She plays Principal Clarinet with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony Orchestras.

Nelson also has a very active freelance career, including playing Broadway-style shows at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theaters, extra with Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera orchestras, and records for various television and motion picture scores. She is Artist in Residence in clarinet at University of Washington, Affiliate Artist Faculty in Clarinet at University of Puget Sound, and maintains a very busy private teaching studio in her home in north Seattle. Nelson also has traveled throughout the United States with the national touring companies of Phantom of the Opera and New York City Opera. In addition to her stateside concerts, orchestral and recital performances have taken her to Mexico, Japan, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Honduras and, most recently, India.

Ward earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from West Chester University (Pa.), and both his Master of Music degree in piano performance/pedagogy and Doctor of Music degree in piano performance from Northwestern University. Prior to his arrival in the Northwest in 1998 as Director of Puget Sound’s School of Music, he performed extensively in the Midwest as a soloist, accompanist and chamber musician in concert and on radio.

Ward remains active as a collaborative pianist, performing with both singers and instrumentalists in the region.

Tickets for the concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students. They may be purchased online at www.pencol.edu/cultural-events.

To learn about other upcoming events at the college, please visit the college website at www.pencol.edu or www.facebook.com/PeninsulaCollege.