sound:

photograph © Hanya Chlala

Kungsbacka Piano Trio

Piano: Simon Crawford-Philips. Violin: Malin Broman. Cello: Jasper Svedberg.

Formed in 1997, the Trio is rapidly gaining an enviable reputation as one of the most outstanding ensembles of its generation. In 1999, the Trio won First Prize in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and in the same year was selected for representation by the Young Concert Artists Trust in London. It has since appeared at numerous festivals and venues throughout Europe, North and South America and Australia.

Invited to take part in the BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme in 2000, the Trio can be frequently heard on Radio 3. Broadcasts have included concerts live from Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, LSO St Luke's and the City of London, Cheltenham and Edinburgh International Festivals.

Selected as "Rising Stars" in 2002 by the European Concert Halls Organisation, the Trio gave a series of recitals at major venues throughout Europe and a debut recital at New York's Carnegie Hall.

Over the last year, the Trio's concert schedule included a performance at the Schwetzinger Festspiele (broadcast on TV and radio), a tour of Australia and New Zealand and residencies at the Lofoten and Båstad International Chamber Music Festivals.

The 2008/09 season includes performances in London's Cadogan and Wigmore Halls, recordings of Haydn's piano trios for Naxos, tours in Scotland and Sweden, and appearances at the Festspiel Mecklenburgh-Vorpommern and the Presteigne and Bremen Festivals.

The Trio's first recording of Schubert on the NAXOS label was released in August 2006 to critical acclaim (click here for further details). The Trio was subsequently invited by Naxos to record Mozart's complete works for piano trio, which are due for release in November 2008. The world première recording of Karen Rehnqvist's Beginning for Piano Trio, commissioned for the Trio is available on the BIS label.

In the Autumn of 1999, the Trio was awarded a Fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and has recently been appointed as Associate Ensemble. The members of the Trio also have teaching posts at Gothenburg University's School of Music and give lectures, masterclasses and concerts throughout the year.

The Trio takes its name from the Swedish town in which it gave its first performance and it has established in Kungsbacka an annual chamber music festival, which is now in its seventh year. It has made several television appearances in Sweden and frequently tours throughout the country.

The Trio is very grateful for the major scholarship awarded by the Sten A Olssons Foundation for Research and Culture and for the valuable support from the Mannheimer Foundation.

• website link for Kungsbacka Piano Trio: www.crawphil.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm
• other artists and composers involved in sound 2008