The Swiss Piano Trio has gathered a remarkable reputation among both experts and the public as an ensemble of outstanding balance and technical perfection whose interpretations electrify with emotional power and their rich and colourful sound. Therefore, there is no surprise that the US-magazine Fanfare recently described the Swiss Piano Trio as „one of the very top piano trio ensembles on today’s stage“. The Swiss Piano Trio is the 2005 first-prize winner of the International Johannes Brahms Competition in Austria. In 2003, the ensemble won another first prize at the distinguished International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta. In March 2005, the trio was given the Swiss Ambassador's Award at the world-famous Wigmore Hall in London. This success in international competitions, along with a series of worldwide concerts, helped make the Swiss Piano Trio one of the leading chamber music ensembles of its generation. Valuable artistic direction has been given to the Swiss Piano Trio by Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio, by the Wiener Altenberg Trio, by Valentin Berlinsky from the Borodin Quartet of Moscow and by members of the Amadeus Quartet. Since its foundation in 1998, the ensemble has given concerts in more than 40 countries on all continents. It has performed in renowned halls such as the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Wigmore Hall London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall Geneva, Philharmonie de Liege, National Philharmony of Ukraine Kiev, Teatro Teresa Carreño Caracas, Teatro Coliseo Buenos Aires, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Grand Theatre, QPAC Brisbane and many others. The musicians regularly accept invitations to perform at renowned festivals such as the Ottawa Chamberfest, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Esbjerg Chamber Music Festival, Bastad Chamber Music Festival, the Festival of the Sound or the MusicFest Vancouver and give masterclasses in many countries. In performances of triple concertos, the Swiss Piano Trio performs as a soloists’ ensemble together with orchestras such as the Russian National Orchestra, the Queensland Orchestra Brisbane, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Christchurch Symphony, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Numerous broadcast recordings for stations like Radio Suisse Romande, Schweizer Radio DRS, Sudwestdeutscher Rundfunk SWR, Österreichischer Rundfunk ORF, CBC Canada, Australian Radio ABC, the Ukrainian State Radio, Radio Television Hong Kong, the Venezuela State TV and many more document the artistic activities of the ensemble. Their discography includes trios by Mozart and Dvořák, as well as piano trios by the Swiss composers Paul Juon, Frank Martin and Daniel Schnyder. From 2011, the Swiss Piano Trio has issued its recordings on the audite label where the complete piano trios by Mendelssohn, Robert and Clara Schumann and Tchaikovsky as well as world premiere recordings of so far unknown romantic piano trios by Eduard Franck were released. All these recordings were received enthusiastically by critics and the public and are getting regularly awards in international magazines. The most recent publication are the complete works for piano trio by Beethoven including the Triple Concerto together with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. This edition got already several awards. The ensemble is very active and successful in promoting and performing carefully chosen works by Swiss composers all over the world. One example is the Triple Concerto written by Daniel Schnyder and commissioned by the Swiss Piano Trio, which was already performed with various orchestras in Belgium, Ukraine, Switzerland and Australia. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Swiss Piano Trio in 2008, the festival KAMMERMUSIK BODENSEE was created: its artistic director is the pianist of the ensemble, Martin Lucas Staub. More information on www.swisspianotrio.com

TRIO TESTORE "The Trio Testore is an ensemble which is capable of acting as a single organism. Chamber music in a truly exquisite category". - MDR - „... with the sensibility that these players reveal, it comes across with touching sincerity ... Tchaikovsky found an emotional and textural balance here that the Testore tap purposefully and with considerable power and impetus ...“ --Geoffrey Norris - Gramophone Awards Issue, September 2014 „the performance here is exemplary, finding all the nuances of the composer's highly individual sound world.“ --Barry Forshaw Classical CD Choice, 12th October 2014 „This is as fine a performance of the Tchaikovsky Trio that you’ll ever find with these players putting their hearts and souls into the music.“ --Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer, 14th December 2014 The multiple prize winning, highly acclaimed pianist Hyun-Jung Kim-Schweiker and cellist Hans-Christian Schweiker, chamber music partner of the legendary Amadeus Quartet and Professor of Violoncello and Chamber Music at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne Academy of Music and Dance), founded the TRIO TESTORE in the year 2000, after concertizing throughout Europe for several years as the Duo con Aura. Since 2015 the internationally renowned violinist Sebastian Hamann, soloist, chamber musician and Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the music conservatories in Lucerne and Freiburg (successor to Prof. Rainer Kussmaul), is the newest member of the Trio. Through his enormous stage presence and highly expressive and colorfully diverse style, he is an immense addition to the inexhaustible musical creativity of this already highly respected ensemble. An active international career and excellently reviewed CD recordings testify to the highest quality of the ensemble. Ever since their release of the complete piano trios of Johannes Brahms on SACD (Audite), which caused a sensation around the world, the TRIO TESTORE has become a household name in the music world and is highly praised as an extraordinary ensemble for the intensity and originality of its interpretations by the media and audiences alike. After the Trio's debut release in 2011 of works by Brahms and Shostakovich on the Audite label came the release of the aforementioned complete cycle of Brahms piano trios in 2013, which received praises of the highest order from the international press. In 2014 they released their next SACD of works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, which once again generated a highly positive response in the international press (Gramophone, Pizzicato, Fanfare, etc.) and was nominated for the "International Classical Music Award 2015."