Black Moon Trio is committed to collaboratively affecting positive change in communities through chamber music. We reimagine the breadth of a horn, violin, and piano trio by showcasing underrepresented voices in our artistic programming and original commissions, inspiring young musicians and non-musicians alike through captivating educational programs, and connecting community members through the arts.

By engaging with diverse audiences, youth, and artists of every type, Black Moon Trio works to prove that classical music is for everyone.

 

Black Moon Trio was founded in 2022 by Parker Nelson, Jeremy Vigil, and Khelsey Zarraga. Each rooted in musical, cultural, and community organizations across the region, Parker, Jeremy, and Khelsey aim to continue making classical music available and relevant to everyone. Harnessing the experience from years of professional chamber music performance, music-making in social service settings, facilitating workshops at universities, and developing curriculum for youth in schools and community development through music, Black Moon Trio is excited to provide a classical music experience that resonates far beyond the reverberations of a final chord.

 

Recent projects include Spilling Over: a program created in collaboration with the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago inspired by the works of visual artist and activist, Bob Thompson; Honeybee: a co-created performance and workshop of Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann’s award-winning children's book, Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera promoting the understanding, appreciation, and preservation of honeybees and other migratory pollinators; and Sow the Seeds: a collaboration with New York Times Best-Selling author and Chicago-native, Michael Tyler, in an interactive concert and journaling experience for audiences to actively address subjects of wellness and community through music, poetry, and nature guided by Tyler’s Sow the Seeds: A Composition in Verse.

 

Reaching thousands of students annually through its arts-integrated educational programs, Black Moon Trio connects K-12 core curricula to vivid, custom-crafted, and interactive musical experiences which challenge students to share and lead. Black Moon Trio has presented performances and residencies at numerous Chicago public schools and the Chicago Cultural Center in partnership with Classical Music Chicago and Ravinia’s Reach*Teach*Play program.

 

As an extension of this work, Black Moon Trio’s performance program, Sow the Seeds, has become the guide for an all-new residency program with the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Using resources from partners at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods’ At Ease and Art Supply Exchange programs, Veterans enrolled in outpatient programs at Lovell participate in a six-week graphic score composition residency culminating in the creation of 10-20 original pieces of music to be performed and recorded by Black Moon Trio. Watercolor painting basics are facilitated in tandem with musical programming by renowned botanical artist Heeyoung Kim and students of her Botanical Art Academy while Michael Tyler’s collection of poetry, Sow the Seeds: A Composition in Verse, will provide the thematic framework for Veterans to compose works about their experiences in nature and their personal connections with one another.

Black Moon Trio is currently Ensemble-In-Residence at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.