ARTIST PROFILE

Osiris Trio

BIOGRAPHY

Ellen Corver (piano), Peter Brunt (violin) and Larissa Groeneveld (cello) formed the Osiris Trio immediately after collaborating for an Amsterdam Concertgebouw performance in 1988. Four years later the trio was awarded an important Dutch prize, the Philip Morris Finest Selection and five years further on it received a special grant, the Annie Bosboom Prijs, to encourage an international career.

The trio quickly established the reputation of best Dutch chamber music ensemble and concerts all over Europe were hugely successful. A tour for the Rising Star series, took the ensemble to major European chamber music venues in Frankfurt, Vienna, Cologne, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Carnegie Hall in New York.

"Extending right through the concert was the encouraging zest of the performers: their largeness in every musical dimension of color, dynamic range and expression, and their consistently well balanced togetherness as an ensemble." NY Times - July 2000

2002 brings the Osiris Trio to its 15th season with an extensive repertoire ranging from Haydn to today, six very well received recordings to its name, a full concert diary containing concerts all over Europe and three extensive tours in the USA. Five newly commissioned works are on their way, the first of which, by Kevin Volans, has to been premiered at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival 2003. All three members of the Osiris Trio teach at the Royal Music Academy in The Hague.

Ellen Corver (piano)

Ellen Corver studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Else Krijgsman and Naum Grubert and was rewarded with several prizes during her studies. It was also in this institution that she was introduced to Karlheins Stockhausen and his works, which led to a long-standing collaboration with this composer and resulted in the first complete recordings of Stockhausen piano works by Ellen Corver for the composers own label. Apart from this affinity with the music of Stockhausen, Ellen Corver has given performances of piano concertos by Gyorgy Ligeti and John Cage (with the ASKO Ensemble), has worked with Gyorgy Kurtag and made her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a new concerto that was written for her by Klaas de Vries in 1998. Ellen Corver has also established a reputation in the classical repertoire with performances of piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok and Ravel with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Kamerorkest and the Residentie Orkest, as a member of the succesful Osiris Piano Trio and in a duo with pianist Sepp Grotenhuis. In 1992 she was appointed to teach at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Larissa Groeneveld (cello)

Larissa Groeneveld studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Dimitri Ferschtman, where she graduated with the highest distinction. She continued her studies with Natalia Gutman at the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart, Germany, and followed masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo Yo Ma. In 1984 Larissa Groeneveld won the First Prize at the Luis Coleman International Competition in Spain, in 1991 she won the Grand Prix for cello in Bourg-Madame, France. She has also performed together with various musicians, such as Herman Krebbers and Reinbert de Leeuw, and has made several tours through Europe. Groeneveld has performed as a soloist with mayor orchestras including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker.

Peter Brunt (violin)

Peter Brunt studied with Davina van Wely and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam, with Dorothy Delay in the Juilliard School in New York and with Sandor Végh in Salzburg. He won first prize in the National Dutch Violin Competition and was awarded several other national and international prizes. As a soloist, he has appeared with all major Dutch orchestras, in repertoire reaching from Mozart to Schnittke. Further engagements brought him to South Africa and throughout Europe. The composer Willem Jeths wrote a concerto for him, which he performed and recorded with New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, conducted by Lev Markiz. For several years Peter Brunt was leader of the second violins in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, presently he works as a gueast-leader with several orchestras, including Rotterdam Philharmonic and New Sinfonietta Amsterdam. Peter Brunt is a violin professor at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.