The young, Belgium-based Trio Khnopff has been recognised for ‘impassioned, go-for-broke performances’, expressive intensity of interpretations, and originality of programming.
United by the spirit of a Belgian symbolist painter whose exceptional work bears witness to the vitality of art in Brussels at the turn of the 20th century, Sadie Fields, Elodie Vignon, and Romain Dhainaut share their formidable experience and creativity to present innovative programmes with enthusiasm and commitment. Their debut CD, ‘Weinberg – 1945’, released on Pavane Records, has met with great critical acclaim in Europe and North America, including a 5 star review in Classica, and it was chosen as ‘Chamber Choice of the Month’ (January 2020) by the BBC Music Magazine.
Trained in the most prestigious conservatoires (Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Royal Academy of Music in London and the Brussels Conservatoires) and holders of numerous prizes and awards, they individually lead rich careers, performing around the world and recording a wide variety of solo and chamber music repertoire. Their shared curiosity, passion, and dedication to music was clear very soon after they met in 2014, and this innate musical complicity allows Trio Khnopff to explore the possibilities and push the emotional and technical boundaries of the piano trio medium.
Free spirited and avant-garde, resolutely modern and uncompromising, Khnopff left a legacy of paintings of incomparable seductiveness: mysterious portraits, melancholy landscapes, and indecipherable mysteries. Music - or silence - often holds a special place. His career spanned the years 1880 to the 1920, an epoch of great artistic experimentation and adventure. Beyond their extensive knowledge of the ‘great repertoire’, Trio Khnopff is passionate about presenting works of this period, creating a dialogue between more famous works and those that have been unfairly forgotten by history. They regularly play Weinberg, Frank Martin, Krenek, Lajtha, Jongen, Saint-Saens... alongside Brahms, Dvorak, or Schubert.
The trio performs frequently in festivals and concert series in continental Europe and the UK, and in 2020 will also perform their first tour of China. As teachers, they have extensive knowledge of a wide variety of chamber music and are experienced in giving masterclasses, coachings, and lessons both instrumentally and in a chamber music setting.
The Instruments
By uncanny luck, both Sadie and Romain play on instruments by the Ghent luthier Hendrick Willems II, made between 1700 and 1740. Willems crafted beautiful instruments based on early 17th century Cremonese models, and both of these instruments were featured at an exhibit presented by Maison Bernard on the occasion of the 2015 Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium.
|
|
|
|
|
|