Ensembles from the European Chamber Music Academy 06/03/2024

The Helix Trio was established in 2022 at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW Basel, and is currently pursuing a CAS degree (Certificate of  Advanced studies) with the professors Anton Kernjak and Anna Gebert. They also receive further relevant musical impulses from Professors Zoltán Fejérvári, Rafael Rosenfeld, and Rainer Schmidt. 

​The Helix Trio has been prizewinner in the ORPHEUS  Swiss Chamber Music Competition 2022 and therefore is performing in festivals such as the Piano Trio Fest 2023 (Bern), the Swiss Chamber Music Festival 2023 (Adelboden) and the Festival Musikdorf Ernen 2023. 

The young ensemble has also recently won “La Flama” Competition 2023, and will make its debut in the Palau de la Musica of Catalunya in November 2023 among other concerts.  Since July 2023, the Helix Trio is an aspirant ensemble of the ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy).

The Helix Trio has participated in several academies and festivals such as the IMS Prussia Cove Masterclasses in April 2023 with the pianist Dénes Várjon, the Vic 2023 International Chamber Music Academy with the violinist Abel Tomàs (Casals quartet) and has also participated in masterclasses with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Heime Müller (Artemis Quartet), Anthony Marwood, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Heinz Holliger among others.

Seen as the one of the most exciting chamber ensembles of their generation, the Paddington Trio has been recognized in international competitions and live performances for their fresh interpretations and exuberant energy. As did the famous bear, Finnish violinist Tuulia Hero, Irish cellist Patrick Moriarty and American pianist Stephanie Tang have made London their home and emerged as an ensemble of an entirely unique and lasting entity. The trio is celebrated for its close and energetic communication, insightful and imaginative programming as well as its highly refined ensemble playing. The trio’s grand mission is to bridge the gap between new listeners and serious classical music enthusiasts by welcoming everyone into their living room of musical discovery and shared love of chamber music.

Having started their first adventure together at the Paddington Station in 2020, a year after they met, the trio won the First Prize in the 70th Royal Over-Seas League Competition for Strings & Piano Ensemble. Firmly committed to promoting new music, education and outreach in chamber music, they were also honoured with the First Prize of the NEW FORMATS Project Prize 2022 in Graz, Austria, and the First Prize at the Clara Schumann International Competition. In April 2023, they were the winners of the prestigious Parkhouse Award held in Wigmore Hall, and they are currently generously supported by the City Music Foundation, Kirckman Concert Society and GBZ Management. In the summer of 2023, the trio completed an Artist Fellowship programme at their alma mater, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, and in 2023/24 continues to teach and inspire young ensembles as Chamber Fellows in the renowned Chamber Fellowship Programme at the Royal Northern College of Music.

In March 2023, the Paddington Trio made its concerto debut performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Jan Söderblom and the Jyväskylä Symphony Orchestra in Finland. They have appeared in prominent halls and series, such as Wigmore Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Oxford Coffee Concerts, St. George’s Bristol and the BBC Total Immersion. Their most recent debuts saw them at the TivoliVredenburg and the Schiermonnikoog Festival in the Netherlands, the Edinburgh Fringe, Buxton International and Brighton Festivals, and Lake District Summer Music. The trio has appeared on YLE Radio (Finland) and BBC Radio 3 In Tune.

Tuulia, Patrick and Stephanie have had the privilege to work closely with internationally renowned musicians, such as Eberhard Feltz, Marc Danel, Gary Hoffman, Levon Chilingirian, Robert Levin, Johannes Meissl, David Dolan and members of the Ébène, Takács, Endellion and Meta4 quartets. They join the European Chamber Music Academy in 2023 and also receive mentorships from ChamberStudio and the Netherlands String Quartet Academy. The trio studied under Thomas Adès at the IMS Prussia Cove’s 50th anniversary masterclasses.

Tuulia plays on a 1707 Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki.

Quasi Trio was founded in 2014 Prague, where it has been based since. Thanks to the unusual instrument line-up, it belongs to the very few Czech ensembles that offer a varied concert programme consisted of less often performed masterpieces by musical giants. The Quasi Trio’s repertoire ranges from baroque to the 21st century, the ensemble also collaborates with contemporary composers such as Eliška Cílková, Lukáš Sommer and Zdeněk Merta.

The trio has successfully graduated with Master’s degree in chamber music at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, all three members – David Šimeček (clarinet), Judita Škodová (cello), Kateřina Ochmanová (piano) – have also collected experience abroad and are laureates of numerous international competitions and master classes. The ensemble completed a two-year internship at the CRR in Paris in the class of the world-famous Trio Wanderer and a postgraduate programme at the MDW University in Vienna with Johannes Meissl (as. Vida Vujić) and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

Although Quasi Trio aims its activities mainly on the domestic audience, it also takes part in international projects and master classes led by artists and educators, such as members of the Talich Quartet, J. Pernoo, H. Beyerle, A. Lonquich, P. Jüdt, V. Vujić, E. Epstein and others. Various international competitions awarded Quasi Trio with its prizes (B. Martinů Foundation Competition, International Plovdiv Chamber Music Competition, etc.), including two Best Chamber Ensemble Prizes held by the International Summer Academy masterclasses in Reichenau an der Rax in Austria. Quasi Trio’s achievements also include several awards for the interpretation of Bohuslav Martinů’s composition, won both in solo and chamber music. The ensemble regularly participates in master classes and concerts across Europe organized by the prestigious selection organization European Chamber Music Academy.

Among the most precious concert venues of Quasi Trio, there are the refectory of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, the Villa Winternitz – a unique Prague architectural monument, Reitschule of the Grafenegg castle and also the waves the Austrian radio ORF and the Dutch Radio West (concert broadcast from the Amare cultural center in The Hague). In addition to their cooperation with leading Czech orchestras (PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Czech Philharmonic, Pardubice Philharmonic, etc.) in their chamber and educational series, the Quasi Trio members also perform as soloists, for example in the original violin line-up in L. van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto accompanied by the PKF – Prague Philharmonia.

In addition to Quasi Trio activities, all members are employed by major Czech institutions – David Šimeček holds a position of the principal clarinet of the Czech National Theatre Orchestra, Judita Škodová is a member of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia and Kateřina Ochmanová is engaged in teaching (piano, chamber music) and piano collaboration at the Pardubice Conservatory.

Graduates of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and the HMDK de Stuttgart, the members of the Parrrhèsia Trio met in 2020 at the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky during their residency at the Seine musicale in Paris.

Their musical sensitivity understanding stood out from the start. They therefore chose Parrrhèsia as their namesake, a Greek word referring to true freedom of speech, direct speech. Their artistic collaboration focused on “favorite” works of German Romanticism, honoring Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn. Their journey began on the stage of several festivals in France, including Jeunes Talents in Paris, the Pianissimes, the Syrinx Festival in Tours, and the Festival des Cordes de Loire. They founded the “Les Heures Classiques” Festival in September 2021 at the Château de Menthon-Saint-Bernard, on the shores of Lake Annecy.

In September 2021, they made their radio debut on France Musique, participating in the show “Jeunes Interprètes” hosted by Clément Rochefort where they performed Félix Mendelssohn’s first trio. They subsequently received the support of cellist Gautier Capuçon in his show “Place aux Jeunes” on Radio Classique.

After being praised by the German press for their remarkable artistic sensitivity and their complicity at the French Institute of Saarbrücken in 2022, they benefited from a year of artistic residency in Anjou, supported by the Pays-de-Loire Region, the department of Maine-et-Loire and the Angevin Mécène et Loire foundation. This residency gave them the opportunity to deepen their repertoire while pursuing a mission of cultural transmission and mediation.

They have been selected in 2023 as artists in residence at ProQuartet, lasting for two years. In 2024, they joined the ECMA Pro project of the European Chamber Music Academy . This program will lead them to give concerts in several prestigious venues across Europe.