For seven years, a trio of Lancaster Festival musicians have been bridging a gap that spans almost 50 years.

On Tuesday night, they were doing it again for a packed crowd at the First United Methodist Church.

Violinist Dmitri Pogorelov, cellist John Sant’Ambrogio and pianist Judith Lynn Stillman played selections from Beethoven that ranged from upbeat pieces to melodic lullabies.

The trio first played together at the 2004 Lancaster Festival. Since then, it has reformed to play together each year and dubbed itself the Generations Trio for the gap between its youngest member, Pogorelov, and its oldest, Sant’Ambrogio.

‘They found a chemistry despite the fact that they come from such different generations,’ said Gary Sheldon, the festival’s artistic director.

The group was formed by Sheldon, but he said that was purely coincidence.

‘They really found each other,’ he said.

Tuesday’s performance of the Generations Trio was accompanied by other musicians as well. Cellist Jonah Kim opened with Stillman in a Hungarian Rhapsody.

These performances are part of what draws John and Linda Burmeister from Richmond, VA, back to their hometown each summer. The Burmeisters, who left Lancaster about 1970, saw the first performance of the Generations Trio in 2004, and the couple makes a point to see then play each year, John Burmeister said.

‘We would never miss a performance of the Generations Trio,’ Linda Burmeister said.