TRIOFENIX STRING TRIO Photo Isabelle Pateer / Otherweyes
In 2006, Shirly Laub (violin), Tony Nys (viola) and Karel Steylaerts (cello) founded TrioFenix to bring to a wider public through concert performance the seldom-played repertoire for string trio. As well as the great masterpieces, TrioFenix explore and perform lesser-known and contemporary works written in this genre. From the start, they have had the support of Klara, the Flanders Festival, the Ostbelgian Festival and the Musiques en Ecrins Festival among many others. Their first CD was recorded in 2010 on the Fuga Libera label. The well-known Divertimento KV 563 and the six Adagio and Fugues KV 404a by W.A.Mozart became their musical calling card and a significant step for TrioFenix. In 2012 they recorded the Serenades Opus 8 by Ludwig Van Beethoven and Opus 10 by Ernst Von Dohnany for the television channel Canvas. Their new CD dedicated to Beethoven string trios will be released in April 2016 (Fuga Libera) Shirly Laub studied violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels with Clemens Quatacker and furthered her studies in Utrecht with Viktor Liberman and Philippe Hirschhorn. From 1998 to 2005 she was Co-Principal Violin of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. As such, she is regularly invited to play with various eminent orchestras in Europe and Asia. As first violin of the Oxalys Ensemble she plays at the most prestigious international venues. She is professor at the Conservatoire Royale de Musique de Bruxelles. Tony Nys studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel with Clemens Quatacker and Philippe Hirschhorn. As a violist in the Danel Quartet from 1998 till 2005 he played worldwide in numerous festivals, recordings and performances of newly composed pieces. Since 2005 he has regularly worked as a freelance musician with ensembles such as Prometheus, Ictus, Ensemble Modern, Explorations. He is currently member of the String Trio & Quartet Malibran. As an orchestra musician, Tony Nys has been viola solo in La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra since 2007 and in that position he was also invited by the Frankfurt Rundfunkorchester. He teaches viola and chamber music at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel and at the Fontys Muziekhogeschool in Tilburg. Karel Steylaerts studied at the Brussels Conservatoire with Carlo Schmitz and then at the Hochschule für Musik of Cologne with Maria Kliegel. He was a prize winner of the 1990 Tenuto competition. He has been Principal Cellist of the Beethoven Academie for many years. Karel Steylaerts is currently Principal Cellist at the Brussels Philharmonic. PROGRAAMME SUGGESTIONS Beethoven Trio, op. 9 n 1 Weiner Trio opus 6 (1908) Dohnanyi Serenade, op. 10 Schubert Allegro D. 471 Cras String Trio (1925) Jongen Trio op. 135 Beethoven Trio, op. 9 n 3 Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 Mozart Adagio and Fugue, KV 404a n 3 Bach Sinfonias, BWV 787-801 Mozart Divertimento, KV 563 Beethoven Trio, op. 3 Tansman Serenade n 2 (1937) Schönberg Trio, op. 45 (1946) Photo Isabelle Pateer / Otherweyes erweyes
DISCOGRAPHY Here is the integral of Mozart s legacy for string trio, a formation in which only few masters really succeeded. The newly founded TrioFenix gathers three soloists coming from well known ensembles (Oxalys, quatuor Danel, Beethoven Academie) and sharing high standards. For its first CD, the trio offers us a double box including the famous Divertimento K563 and the six Bach s fugues transcribed in trio by Mozart (who added to it some Preludes sometimes original or sometimes transcribed from Bach father and son). A great journey in the inner universe of Mozart, which will delight everyone who can t choose between melody, harmony or counterpoint! 2 CD / Fuga Libera / FUG 569 / 2010 «Les interprètes dévoilent les charmes et l élégance de cette musique faussement simple et en éclairent finement les différentes facettes. Cultivant une sonorité savoureuse et sans graisse, ils mettent un point d honneur à ce que leurs voix s unissent tout en restant clairement distinctes. Cette cohésion et cette transparence ne constituent pas les seuls atouts de cette lecture à la fois ferme et souple : aisance, assurance, continuité du propos, les qualités abondent même en se focalisant sur les détails (netteté des traits, sveltesse des phrasés, subtilité de la pulsation). Leur vigueur n a rien de brutal tandis que la pensée s impose par sa cohérence, le discours par son esprit et sa finesse. Un premier essai discographique abouti.» Sébastien Foucart, The Classical Music Network, 19 juillet 2010 «Le bonheur de jouer et le sourire aux lèvres Divertimento K563 : Mozart au naturel par le Trio Fenix. Le Trio Fenix le réussit à merveille avec allant, naturel, simplicité sans simplisme, et un bonheur de jouer qui s avère communicatif : le dernier accord vous laisse le sourire aux lèvres dans un état de joyeuse béatitude.» Gérard Pangon, Musikzen, 23 juin 2010 «Saluons donc l entreprise du trio belge Fenix, qui ressuscite des cendres de l oubli ce joyau délaissé de la musique de chambre.» Gilles Macassar, Télérama.fr, 12 juin 2010 DELPHINE DEWALD 0032 (0)2 880 50 95 - dw@arts-scene.be www.arts-scene.be
REPERTOIRE STRING TRIO Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 Josef Haydn (1732-1809) Divertimento, Hob.V:8 Divertimento, Hob.XI:113 Trio, op. 53 n 1 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Divertimento KV 563 Adagios and Fugues, KV 404a n 1-6 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Trio, op. 3 Serenade, op. 8 Trio, op. 9 n 1 Trio, op. 9 n 2 Trio, op. 9 n 3 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Trio, D.471 Trio, D.581 Gideon Klein (1919-1945) String Trio (1944) Hans Krása (1899-1944) Passacaglia & Fugue Tanec (danse) : Presto Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915) Trio, op. 31 Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) Trio, op. 48 Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) String Trio (1945) Sofia Gubaïdoulina (1931) String Trio Anton Webern (1883-1945) Trio, op. 20 Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) Trio op. 45 Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) Intermezzo Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960) Serenade, op. 10 Leó Weiner (1885-1960) Trio, op. 6 György Kurtág (1926) Signs games and messages László Lajtha (1892-1963) Serenade, op. 9 Fox-trott Eugène Ysaye (1858-1931) Le Chimay
STRING TRIO Albert Huybrechts (1899-1938) Trio (1935) Luc Brewaeys (1959) Nobody is perfect Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) El gran tango Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) Liebesleid und Liebesfreud Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959) String Trio n 2, H 238 Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) String Trio n 2 (1933) WITH OBOE W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) Quartet for oboe and strings, KV 370 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) Phantasy for oboe and strings, op. 2 WITH PIANO Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Piano quartet, op. 47 Johannes Brahms (1833-897) Piano quartet, op. 25 WITH CELLO Anton Arensky (1861-1906) Quartet for violin, viola & 2 cellos, op. 35