ARTIST PROFILE

Amelia Piano Trio

BIOGRAPHY

Formed six years ago, the Amelia Trio has already established an international reputation. Called "remarkable" by Strings and "exemplary" by Strad, the group almost immediately became one of the world's most sought after ensembles. In its short history the Amelia has been grand prize winner at the Yellow Springs National Competition and recipient of the prestigious ASCAP award for Adventurous Programming.

This year the trio was asked by National Public Radio to be the Young Ensemble in Residence. This exciting week of live concerts and interviews put the Amelia firmly in the foreground of classical music in America, reaching an estimated 1.8 million listeners. Performing 15 works that spanned the centuries - from a Bach trio sonata to a sneak-peek of John Harbison's new trio written for them, the Amelia has forged a lasting relationship with NPR.

The Amelia enjoys an active touring schedule which has brought them throughout North America as well as France, Italy, the French West Indies, and Panama. Highlights from this past season include performances in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis, Maryland, and Alaska. Next season the trio is embarking on a collaborative project with Sean Curran Dance Company which will bring them to the Western States, including concerts in Seattle's Meany Hall. The ensemble has performed in concert to benefit the families and victims of the September 11 tragedy at New York's St. Patrick's Church, blocks from ground zero.

The Amelia Trio members have quickly made their mark as performers and commissioners of new music. Notably, Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Harbison has written his first full-length Piano Trio for the Amelias ("Short Stories"). This trio is commissioned in part by the Caramoor International Music Festival and will receive its world premiere there on July 1. Other commissions for the Amelia include Augusta Read Thomas's A Circle Around the Sun , Adam Silverman's “Sturm”, and David T. Little's "Piano Trio".

The Trio has been heard on many radio stations, including National Public Radio's "Performance Today", WFMT Chicago, and KPBS San Diego. The Trio has also been seen on the BBC as well as television programs in Japan and Germany.

The members of the Trio have a passionate dedication to the next generation of musicians. As teachers, members are professors at the Hartt School of Music and Connecticut College. They are very proud to have their own summer chamber music workshop, held in rural Wisconsin, now in it's sixth year. The Trio has been in residence at Weber State University in Utah, where they started the chamber music program, now in full swing. They have done award-winning work with AIDS Project Hartford, a home for abused children, and the Dayton Children's Hospital, where they were in residence for a week. In addition, they have received a grant from Chamber Music America for "Schmearing Music all over Middletown", a community-based residency in Connecticut.

The Trio has recorded the clarinet chamber works of Hindemith for Cedille Records, "This quartet is a masterpiece, and this is easily its best recorded performance" - Classics Today. Theyalso have recorded for Traditional Crossroads, a world music label, with their project

The trio is well known for its innovative projects, notably "East Meets West ". Growing out of the trio's work with Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project (which has taken Amelia members from Carnegie Hall to Egypt and the steppes of Tajikistan), the trio adds traditional instumentalists from India or China for concert hailed by critics as "stunning". Encompassing a wide variety of styles, the group performs traditional Asian melodies, classics of the Western canon, and contemporary fusion.