The Black Oak Ensemble (violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli, and cellist David Cunliffe) continues to push the boundaries of the string trio repertoire with their third album on Cedille Records.

The idea for the album was born out of a mistaken Google search. During the 2022 World Cup, with Switzerland, Germany, France, and England all in the running—all countries reflecting the ensemble’s heritage—a bit of rivalry emerged. Ruhstrat, searching for British string trio composers, had previously been looking for world cup scores and accidentally included “soccer” in her query, leading to the discovery of Shirley J. Thompson’s Concerto for Football and Orchestra. A subsequent deep dive into British string trios revealed that most were by women—and a new album concept was born. Dance of the Night Sky features eight contemporary trios by a multigenerational cohort of British women composers, including world-premiere recordings of works by Shirley J. Thompson, Carol J. Jones, Grace-Evangeline Mason, and Errollyn Wallen, and works by Judith Weir, Dobrinka Tabakova, Freya Waley-Cohen, and Sally Beamish.