The DePaul School of Music continues to attract national attention for its strong faculty roster, and among the school’s most recent appointments are pianist Aglika Angelova and violinist Robert Waters. In addition to their academic responsibilities at DePaul, these two musicians spend considerable time on the road performing with their colleague, cellist Julian Hersh, as the award-winning Jupiter Trio. Together this spirited ensemble will play a free, public concert at 8 p.m., April 21, in the DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden Ave.

Dedicated to the study and performance of the piano trio repertoire, the Jupiter Trio, formed in 1998, has developed a loyal following of chamber music enthusiasts for its compelling music-making. Awarded first prize honors at the highly competitive Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2002, the Trio has since received invitations to perform throughout this country and abroad. In 2004, the Jupiter Trio completed an 11-city tour of Japan and released its debut CD on the Bridge Records label. The recording was awarded the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award by the Classical Recording Foundation. Given the academic commitments of its members, it is hardly surprising that the Trio considers its link to community through teaching (master classes and residencies) and the commissioning of new work its highest priorities.

Angelova and Waters both joined the DePaul faculty in 2002. Born in Bulgaria to a scientist mother and medical professor father, Angelova began her piano studies at age four and was perennially at the head of her class, both academically and musically. She enjoyed a successful solo career in Europe before coming to the United States in 1997. At DePaul, she teaches applied piano, chamber music and accompaniment, and also offers private lessons.

Prior to his DePaul appointment, Waters was the associate concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. A tireless advocate for contemporary music, he has worked closely with composers Krzysztof Penderecki, Gyorgy Kurtag, Luciano Berio and Leon Kirchner. A native of Kent, Ohio, Waters is part of DePaul’s stellar strings faculty that also includes former Chicago Symphony Orchestra assistant principal cellist Stephen Balderston and international award-winning violinist Ilya Kaler.

For the April 21 concert at DePaul, the Jupiter Trio will perform piano trios by Alfred Schnittke and Franz Schubert, a program chosen to illustrate the dazzling evolution of this genre over two centuries. Schubert composed only two piano trios during his brief life; both were penned in 1827 shortly before his death. Of the two, Schubert favored the E flat major trio which, unlike most of the composer’s compositions, gained immediate acceptance by Vienna’s concert-going public.

Schnittke, who died in 1998, has recently emerged as Russia’s most popular composer since Shostakovich. Similarly to Schubert, his chamber works served as a vehicle to convey his innermost thoughts. The composer’s only piano trio, completed in 1992, is a transcription of his earlier String Trio, originally intended as homage to Austrian composer Alban Berg.

For more information about this concert and other DePaul School of Music events, or about music education programs offered by the school, call (773) 325-7260 or visit the Web site: music.depaul.edu .

More information about the Jupiter Trio is available on the Web site: http://www.jupitertrio.net/jupitertrio.net.htm.