“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.”
- American Record Guide
After thirty-five years of success the world over, including many award-winning 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 Robinson have set the standard for performance of the piano trio literature. 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 2011-12 season the Trio celebrates its three-and-a-half decades together by debuting three new commissions devoted to the anniversary, recording the complete Schubert trios, and touring extensively. On the heels of the success of Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Septet,” they are embarking on another consortium project with Ms. Zwilich –– this time scored for quintet with Schubert’s “Trout” instrumentation and performed with violist Michael Tree and double-bassist Harold Robinson. The work has garnered raves since its world premiere at the La Jolla Music Society in August 2011 and will receive its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall in November 2011.
Stanley Silverman’s Trio No. 2, "Reveille," which had its world premiere with Sting as guest vocalist, in September 2011 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Herman Sandler, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Mr. Silverman has known the Trio through the entirety of their long career (he wrote his first trio for the group), and continues their longstanding friendship with this commission. The multi-movement work includes “The Lute Song,” with a famous eulogy from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline ("Fear not the Heat of the Sun"), in which Sting sings with the Trio. An instrumental version of this work will also be premiered throughout the 2011-12 season.
Music Accord has also commissioned a new work by André Previn for the Trio, to be given its world premiere at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in May 2012. This will mark the third new work to be heard in the Trio’s anniversary season.
On the recording front, the complete Schubert trios, a 2-CD set on Bridge Records marks The Trio’s newest release (November 2011). Prior to this, a 4-disc complete cycle of the Brahms trios, was released on KOCH/E1 in the fall of 2009. 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), as well as Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra (Chandos).
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 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.
Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society
