TIME FOR THREE, St. Mary's Church, Park City, Thursday

The future of classical music is in good hands.

Those who fear a musical generation gap need only to look to the up-and-coming Time for Three to find vibrant, exciting and creative artists who can speak to an audience of any age.

Of course, Time for Three mixes things up with bluegrass and jazz — it's far from straight-laced and "serious." And that is their charm.

With a sharp wit, musically and otherwise, the trio played a program of original music and arrangements of everything from Bach's Double Violin Concerto to the Beatles' "Blackbird."

Zachary DePue, Ranaan Meyer and Nicolas Kendall are graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music, and it shows.

They're trained to master the most difficult music written, and they're trained to play it musically and beautifully. But rather than confining themselves to the classical "box," they use that "box" as a foundation to allow them to do just about whatever they please on their instruments.

And what do they please — tearing through Bach's Double Violin Concerto at double speed, and a bluegrass swing with a jazz slap bass providing the foundation.

Playing an achingly beautiful rendition of "Ashoken Farewell" and "Amazing Grace."

Making the audience laugh as the two violinists played the same violin — one doing the theme from "Fiddler on the Roof," the other playing "Hava Nagila," with the bass joining in on "If I Were A Rich Man" in trio fashion.

When they apply their technique to fiddle tunes, well, one looks for smoke to come rising from their instruments as they tear through the material at devilishly fast speeds.

When they apply it to sweeter, more melodic material, it really sings. And their sharp wit — musically and otherwise — made the concert entertaining as well as satisfying.

Bassist Ranaan Meyer deserves special mention — not only for his melodic and tuneful bass playing — but for his original compositions. The arrangements by Time for Three were very good, but the best material on the program was what Meyer had written himself.

Again, the classical training came through on the quality and depth of things like "Of Time and Three Rivers," but the musical language was all their own.

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E-mail: rcline@desnews.com