Grieg Trio 1991

Grieg Trio

Vebjørn Anvik (piano), Sølve Sigerland (violin), Ellen Flesjø (cello)

The Grieg Trio won the Parkhouse Award in the 1991 competition, where they performed the first movement of Haydn’s G major Piano Trio and Brahm’s Piano Trio Op. 87

The Grieg Trio has established itself as one of the leading piano trios in the world. Established in 1987, the trio studied with Professor Andras Mihaly at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and in masterclasses with Norbert Brainin, Martin Lovett and Eli Goren.

After the Trio won both the first prize and two additional special prizes at the 1989 Colmar Chamber Music Competition, Tibor Varga wrote: “This year, as president of the jury of the Colmar Chamber Music Competition, I had the most extraordinary experience after I heard the Grieg Trio. All members of the jury spontaneously stood up applauding full of enthusiasm, some had tears in their eyes because of profound emotion. The director of the competition said that they never had such unanimous approval and musical experience.”

The participation at the 1990 Interforum in Hungary attracted further international attention. The Times (London) wrote: “Oslo’s Grieg Trio should be snapped up at once…so authoritative is their command of idiom, so energetic and imaginative their playing…”

In 1991 the Grieg Trio won the first Parkhouse Award, “for their sensitivity, flexibility and above all — outstanding talent.” The award included three London concerts in 1991 and 1992 at Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room and St. John’s Smith Square. Norske Shell A/S gave them the “Euro Prize” for 1992.

The Norwegian Association of Music, Theatre and Ballet Critics awarded its prestigious “Music Critics Prize 1993/94” to the Grieg Trio for the concert on November 5th, 1993. Both their U.S. and Japan debuts took place in the same year with a series of highly successful in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Savannah, Seattle, Washington D.C. and in Tokyo. Further, the trio was granted in 1993 the major Norwegian Cultural Scholarship from Norsk Kassettavgiftsfond.

The Grieg Trio has performed at major venues in the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and in the United States. Also, the trio has appeared at leading festivals such as Bad Kissingen, Bath, Bergen, Gstaad, Helsinki, Kuhmo, Orlando, Oslo, Risør and Stavanger.

The Lillehammer Olympic Organising Committee for the 17th Olympic Winter Games in 1994 selected the Grieg Trio to be one of their front representatives in presenting Norwegian music culture within their cultural promotion tour 1991–1994.

The Grieg Trio is also strongly engaged in promoting contemporary music, During the season 1994/95 the trio commissioned and performed piano trios from 4 Norwegian composers. The CD recordings of Mendelssohn, Brahms and Schumann (Virgin Classics) have received the highest critical acclaim. During the Dvorák Year 2004 the Grieg Trio’s recording of the composer’s piano trios will be released on the Simax label.

In 1997 the trio received the most prestigious music award, the Grieg Prize. The prize was awarded on Sunday 15th June, Edvard Grieg’s birthday. The ceremony was followed by a concert of the prizewinners that took place at Edvard Grieg’s estate at Troldhaugen in Bergen.

During the season 2002/03 the Grieg has presented for the first time its “Beethoven plus” project at London’s Wigmore Hall. The cycle, consisting of four concerts, includes all piano trios by Beethoven plus a contemporary piece for each programme. For the London cycle commissions have been given to the composers Krystof Maratka, Lasse Thoresen, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and Erkki-Sven Tüür. In March/April 2005 the “Beethoven plus” project will be performed at the Konzerthaus Berlin. One of the programmes will be presented at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. With the start of the project in November 2003 the first CD was released on the Simax label. During 2004 and 2005 the further CDs will be released.

In 2004 the Grieg Trio took over the artistic direction of the Stavanger Chamber Music Festival.

Grieg Trio is sponsored by Anker Chartering A/S.

Griegtrio.com

“It`s playing was everything one wants from a trio: precise, balanced, beautifully nuanced and shaped in a way that lets a listener see into the music rather than through it.”

(Weill Hall Carnegie Hall / The New York Times)