Jay K. Hoffman & Associates phone: (212) 371-6690; fax: (212) 754-0192; www.jaykhoffman.com

 

 

“It’s a rare luxury to hear music-making of such integrity and joy, and an equally rare privilege to be party to such an intimate musical conversation.”

 

After more than three decades of great success, many recordings, and newly commissioned works, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio continues to dazzle audiences and critics alike with their performances. Since making their debut at the White House for President Carter’s Inauguration in January 1977, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinsonhave set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature for more than thirty years. As one of the only chamber ensembles with all its original members, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio balances the careers of three internationally-acclaimed soloists while making annual appearances at many of the world’s major concert halls, commissioning spectacular new works, and maintaining an active recording agenda.

 

During the 2009-2010 season the Trio continues to tour, perform, and teach in the upper echelon of the world’s concert halls.  In addition to their annual visits to New York, California, Washington D.C., and Florida, the Trio will perform in Hawaii for the first time.  Internationally, they will concertize in Berne, Switzerland, at South Korea’s Seoul Spring Festival, and in London for a return performance at Wigmore Hall.  The well-received and newly-commissioned Septet by Ellen Zwilich, performed last season in a collaborative effort with the Miami String Quartet, will be brought to audiences in Ohio, Oregon, Florida, and at Bard College, New York.

 

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio kicked-off the 2008-09 season at London’s Wigmore Hall with the Complete Beethoven Cycle. Other engagements throughout the season included the world premiere of Ellen Zwilich’s Septet in collaboration with the Miami String Quartet at New York City’s 92^nd Street Y. The premiere of Ms. Zwilich’s piece marked her 70^th birthday celebration in April 2009, and highlights one of the many pieces that have been commissioned for the Trio. Subsequent premieres occurred at the Kennedy Center, Detroit Chamber Music Society, and Virginia Arts Festival. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio also performed another work that was written for them, For Daniel by Joan Tower, in a concert in New York City celebrating Ms. Tower’s 70^th birthday, and in a concert devoted to her works at the Kennedy Center.

 

On the recording front, the ensemble has entered an exciting new partnership with KOCH International Classics. The Trio’s most recent recording project, a 4-disc Brahms Cycle of the complete trios, will be released in the fall of 2009. The fall release includes the final two CDs of the project, following a previous release of the first two CDs in 2008. Their Arensky & Tchaikovsky disc was released in October 2006 to great acclaim. KOCH also re-released many of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio’s hallmark recordings, including chamber works of Maurice Ravel, A Child’s Reliquary (piano trio) and In the Arms of the Beloved (double concerto) by Richard Danielpour, the complete sonatas and trios of Shostakovich, trios by Pärt, Zwilich, Kirchner and Silverman written especially for the group, and their beloved collection of the complete Beethoven Trios. Other highlights of their vast discography include a critically acclaimed all-Haydn CD (Dorian), recordings of the complete Mendelssohn and Brahms Trios (Vox Cum Laude), Beethoven's Kakadu Variations and the Archduke Trio (MCA Classics), as well as Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra (Chandos).

 

In December 2001, Musical America named the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio the Ensemble of the Year for 2002. The 2003-04 season was their first as Chamber Ensemble in Residence at the Kennedy Center, an honor which has continued to thrill the Trio throughout subsequent seasons. They were also awarded the first annual Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award by the Foundation for Recorded Music. The steady stream of honors marks the high esteem that the classical music field holds for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.

 

During their past seasons, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio has maintained a heavy touring schedule that has taken them across the globe. Memorable concerts over the years include the Trio’s performance on Carnegie Hall's Centennial Series; tours of Japan, New Zealand and Australia; a series with the Guarneri Quartet featuring Brahms’ entire literature for piano and strings; the Beethoven cycle on Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series (the first time the complete Beethoven piano trios were performed at Lincoln Center), premieres of Richard Danielpour’s piano quartet, Book of Hours;and performances across America and Europe of new concertos written exclusively for the Trio by David Ott and Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Other performances include dates in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas, Cincinnati, Portland, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and the Tanglewood Music Festival.

 

In Europe, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio has performed in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Vienna, and Paris, as well as at major international music festivals in Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Granada, Helsinki, Highlands, South Bank, Stresa and Tivoli. They have toured the British Isles with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of solo, double and triple concertos and have recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra for Chandos.

Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2005, while Joseph Kalichstein continues as a long-revered teacher at the Juilliard School of Music.

 

The Trio is honored that the Chamber Music Society of Detroit has created the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (KLRITA), an initiative with a two-fold purpose: to salute the Trio’s contribution to chamber music worldwide and to encourage and enhance the careers of promising young piano trios. The KLRITA, in which 20 presenters nationwide participate, is awarded to a new ensemble every two years. The first ensemble was the exciting young American group, the Claremont Trio, the second award was presented to the Trio con Brio Copenhagen of Denmark, and the current award was captured by the ATOS Trio of Germany.