THE PEABODY TRIO

Violaine Melançon (violin), Natasha Brofsky (cello), Seth Knopp (piano)

Since winning the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1989, the Peabody Trio has established itself as one of the leading piano trios in the world. Equally committed to the classics of the repertoire and to important new works, they bring to their music making what The Washington Post calls "the romantic fervor of the 20th century greats."

The Peabody Trio gave its New York debut in 1990 at Alice Tully Hall and has since performed in the most important chamber music series in New York, Washington, DC, Chicago, Denver, Vancouver, Montreal, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston and Philadelphia. Internationally, they tour frequently in England, making repeat appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall, and in Japan and Israel. Their reputation as champions of new music garnered them an invitation to the first Biennale for contemporary music, Tempus Fugit, in Tel Aviv.

Festivals including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Skaneateles, and Napa Valley’s "Music in the Vineyards" have played home to their summer performances. Radio programs including Saint Paul Sunday Morning, NPR’s Performance Today, Morning Pro Musica, CBC, Radio-Canada, and the WQXR Listening Room in New York have broadcast their performances. The Peabody Trio collaborates frequently with such eminent artists as clarinetist Charles Neidich, violists Roger Tapping and Maria Lambros, soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson, and actor Andre De Shields. Working with Walter van Dyck and Elizabeth Mansfield, the Peabody Trio is at the forefront of chamber music theater with a series of innovative, collaborative projects involving piano trio and actor.

The Peabody Trio currently serves as the resident faculty ensemble of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, a position they have held since 1989. They are frequently asked to perform educational residencies for chamber music organizations and have served as visiting professors at universities and conservatories both in the United States and abroad. They spend summers as ensemble-in-residence at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival in Putney, Vermont.

During the 2005-2006 season the Peabody Trio presents a Beethoven cycle at the first conference of the American Beethoven Society and the San Jose State University Beethoven Center, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the San Jose Chamber Music Society. The trio will also appear on the Chamber Music Masters Series at the San Francisco Conservatory.

In 2004 the Peabody Trio released their recording of the Beethoven Opus 70 Trios-the dramatic Ghost trio and the lyrical Opus 70#2-called by the Strad Magazine “some of the most accomplished Beethoven Trio playing (they had) heard in many a year.” This Spring they continue their recording of the Beethoven Trios with the first and third of the Opus 1 trios. Previous Peabody Trio recordings can be found on CRI and New World.

THE PEABODY TRIO
INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES

The three musicians of the Peabody Trio come from diverse musical backgrounds.

Violaine Melançon (violin)

Violinist VIOLAINE MELANÇON, is from Quebec, Canada and after receiving First Prize in violin at the Conservatoire de Musique she continued her studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory. While at Curtis, she was a member of the Nisaika Quartet, prize winner of the 8th International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. Ms. Melançon is also the recipient of many awards for solo performance including the 1984 Prix d’Europe. Since then, her activities as a chamber musician, soloist with orchestras, and teacher have taken her to many major Canadian and American music centers, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.

Natasha Brofsky (cello)

Cellist NATASHA BROFSKY grew up in New York City. With degrees from the Eastman School and Mannes College, her teachers have included Marion Feldman, Robert Sylvester, Paul Katz and Timothy Eddy. In 1987 she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study with William Pleeth in London, and while there she won the Muriel Taylor Cello Prize. She subsequently held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Natasha Brofsky has played with many fine ensembles in the USA and Europe, including the Takacs, Cassatt, Norwegian quartets, and the Colorado Chamber Players. She has performed regularly in Scandinavia, Austria and Germany as a member of the string trio opus 3 and the Serapion Ensemble, and she recorded Olav Anton Thommessen’s cello concerto with the Oslo Sinfonietta for Aurora Records. She has been a frequent guest at numerous international festivals, including Prussia Cove, Oslo, Music from Salem, Crested Butte, and Portland. She is also a committed teacher, having served on the faculty at Barratt-Due’s Music Institute in Oslo, and as guest faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Ms. Brofsky joined the cello faculty of the New England Conservatory in 2004 and was recently appointed Assistant Chair of Strings at the school.

Seth Knopp (piano)

Pianist SETH KNOPP studied at the New England Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory. His teachers have included Leonard Shure and Leon Fleisher. He has performed with symphony and chamber orchestras in the United States and has collaborated in concert with such artists as Bonnie Hampton, Nicholas Mann, Kurt Ollman and the Cavani Quartet. In 1983, Mr. Knopp and violinist Violaine Melançon formed the Knopp-Melançon Duo, an artistic collaboration which began when both performers were students. Since that time, this husband and wife team has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and Egypt. In 1987, as a result of having been appointed USIA Artistic Ambassadors, the Knopp-Melançon Duo toured abroad extensively and made their Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center. Currently, Mr. Knopp is Artistic Director of the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival in Putney, Vermont, and is on the piano and chamber music faculties at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.

For more information about the Peabody Trio,
please visit their web site at www.peabodytrio.org.