TRIO SOLISTI
Celebrating their 10th Anniversary in the 2011-2012 season, Trio Solisti has been hailed "The most exciting piano trio in America" by The New Yorker Magazine. Comprised of three brilliant instrumentalists - violinist Maria Bachmann, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach and pianist Jon Klibonoff -
Trio Solisti has earned a reputation for soulful and passionate performances marked by soloistic virtuosity, electric energy, seamless ensemble playing, and thrilling abandon. These qualities have drawn high praise from such journals as The New York Times (“consistently brilliant") and The Washington Post (“unrelenting passion and zealous abandon in a transcendent performance.”) Performing a broad spectrum of styles, their versatility extends to new music, most notably to the work of Paul Moravec who composed his 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Tempest Fantasy, for Trio Solisti. One of America's most notable critics, Terry Teachout of The Wall St. Journal proclaimed, "To my mind, Trio Solisti has now succeeded the Beaux Arts Trio as the outstanding chamber-music ensemble of its kind."
The members of Trio Solisti collaborate with many of today's leading composers. Chamber Music Monterrey Bay in California has commissioned a work for the Trio by one of America's most gifted young composers, Kevin Puts. He is one of four composers chosen by CMMB's "Arc of Life" commissioning initiative which features works inspired by visual artist Bill Viola, and the trio premieres the new piece in fall 2012 with clarinetist Jon Manasse. The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music in Tucson have commissioned Lowell Lieberman to write a piano trio for Trio Solisti
which they premiere on the series in 2013.
Trio Solisti performed the World and New York premieres of Vita Brevis by Paul Moravec in 2009 with lyric soprano Amy Burton of the Metropolitan Opera. The Trio and Ms. Burton have recorded this work for the Naxos Label for release in 2011. Violinist Maria Bachmann and pianist Jon Klibonoff performed the world premiere of Philip Glass's Sonata for violin and piano in 2009, and cellist Alexis Gerlach performed the world premiere of Kevin Puts work for solo cello and string quintet in New York in 2009.
Trio Solisti's 4th CD, Cafe Music, based on the title of Paul Schoenfield's popular trio, is a program full of surprise and high spirits. Released on Bridge in May 2009, it begins with Astor Piazzolla's Four Seasons of Buenos Aires in a spicy arrangement by Piazzolla's own sideman, José Bragato and Bachmann- it segues to Piazzolla's sultry Le Grand Tango arranged for the trio by composer Martin Kutnowski. Paul Schoenfield's jazzy Café Music continues the disc's boundary-breaking mix of popular and classical, followed by Joaquin Turina's soulful second Trio. To close this delightful program, Trio Solisti performs George Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarily So arranged by Ms. Bachmann. The Musical America review proclaimed "...sumptuous soaring lines, sultry countermelodies, and articulated dance rhythms with muscular clarity."
Pictures at an Exhibition, the trio's 3rd CD, was released on Endeavour Classics in 2007. The disc includes Trio Solisti's own arrangement of Mussorgsky's monumental Pictures at an Exhibition and Ravel's masterly Piano Trio in A minor. Gramaphone Magazine raved "Trio Solisti's arrangement skillfully recasts Mussorgsky's musical gallery" and Fanfare Magazine called the performances "astonishing in sparkling clarity...surging with sensuality and dramatic contrasts."
Previous recordings by Trio Solisti are Brahms Trios for Marquis Classics about which Strad Magazine said "Trio Solisti plays this glorious music with rare commitment and insight- the free-flowing adrenaline has one on the edge of one's seat as it might at a first rate concert performance." Their CD Tempest Fantasy, a CD of music by Paul Moravec on NAXOS American Classics, includes the world premiere recording of Moravec’s 2004 Pulitzer winning work Tempest Fantasy with guest clarinetist David Krakauer. Of this release Fanfare Magazine said, "These performances are really almost beyond belief."
Highlights of the 2011- 2012 season include the release of their new cd of Dvorak Piano Trios, return engagements in Calgary, Canada, and their return to Adelphi University in New York for a residency series and master classes.
The trio has made critically acclaimed debuts at The Kennedy Center, in New York City for Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series and at Town Hall’s Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and at the internationally renowned Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy. They have performed as guests of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, at Seattle's Meany Hall, La Jolla's Revelle series, Milwaukee Symphony's Pabst Series, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and have toured in Canada.
Trio Solisti performs at many festivals both as a trio and as individual guest artists including Bravo! in Vail, CO, The Caramoor Festival, Maverick Concerts and Skaneateles Festival in New York State, Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival in Carmel and The Laguna Beach Festival in CA, The Amelia Island and Sanibel Island Festivals in FL, The Moab Festival in Utah, and Cape Cod Festival in MA.
The Trio is the founding ensemble of Telluride MusicFest in Telluride, CO, an annual chamber music festival which celebrates its' tenth season in 2012. They perform there with guest artists and have had composers in residence such as Philip Glass and Paul Moravec. The trio's guest artists have included pianist Adam Neiman, clarinetists David Krakauer and Jon Manasse, violists Hsin-Yun Huang and Toby Appel, violinists Ayano Ninomiya and Jesse Mills, and cellist Wendy Sutter.
Acclaimed as solo artists, Trio Solisti's members frequently perform with orchestras. In 2010, Mr. Klibonoff performed Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Virginia Symphony, and Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto in G major with the Buffalo Philharmonic with conductor JoAnne Falletta. Ms. Bachmann performed Philip Glass's Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra with the Orchestra of the Hague in the Netherlands, the world premiere of Paul Moravec's Violin Concerto at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA, and John Corigliano's Red Violin Concerto at Chicago's Millenium Park.
Trio Solisti has appeared on the nationally broadcast radio show “St. Paul Sunday” and has been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today” in numerous live performances from around the U.S. They have been presented in multi-concert series at the famed Morgan Library in New York and by the St. Louis Museum of Art. www.triosolisti.com
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