Sitkovetsky Trio

‘The Holy Grail of trio playing – three individual characters, but perfectly blended.’

– Edinburgh Music Review

The Sitkovetsky Trio is one of the pre-eminent piano trios at work on today’s global stage. Formed by classmates at the UK’s Menuhin School over twenty years ago, the trio performs regularly in venues such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and London’s Wigmore Hall, and their extensive discography for BIS Records has won numerous awards.

In this first of two concerts, the Sitkovetsky Trio opens with the neglected music of French composer Cécile Chaminade, once the darling of Paris salons. Dispensing momentarily with the piano, the program turns to the music of Chaminade’s contemporary, Maurice Ravel, and his mercurial, playful Duo for Violin and Cello.

In the program’s second half, the Trio introduces music written for the group and premiered during their residency at the Beethovenfest Bonn in 2024: Bucha is Ukrainian composer Lena Sierova’s searing tribute to the victims of the 2022 Bucha massacre. The dark turbulence with which Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor opens is a bridge to an evolutionary journey that spans despair, tenderness and wit, before the fourth movement ushers in a concert finale of rare, unbridled joy.

Sitkovetsky Trio are also performing at UKARIA on Sunday 19 July at 2.30pm, joined by violist Stefanie Farrands. Further details can be found here.

Alexander Sitkovetsky | Violin
Isang Enders | Violoncello
Wu Qian | Piano

Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
Piano Trio No. 2 in A minor, Op. 34 [24']

I. Allegro moderato
II. Lento
III. Allegro energico

Maurice Ravel (1865–1937)
Duo for Violin and Cello [21']

I. Allegro
II. Très vif
III. Lent
IV. Vif, avec entrain

INTERVAL

Lena Sierova (b. 1983)
Bucha

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110 [28']

I. Bewegt, doch nicht zu rasch
II. Ziemlich langsam
III. Rasch
IV. Kräftig, mit Humor