The Delta Piano Trio

Our piano trio journey started in the fall of 2013. Despite being from the same country, the Netherlands, the three of us never met before running into each other in Salzburg, Austria. After a Dutch pancake evening we decided to learn some piano trios and take lessons with two incredible musicians, who turned out to have a big influence on us; Wolfgang Redik from the Vienna Piano Trio and Rainer Schmidt from the Hagen Quartet. During those first few weeks it became clear that there was something special about our collaboration and we quickly decided to prepare for our first international competition in Vilnius, Lithuania. There we won the first prize, but more importantly we discovered that we had a blast traveling together and making music in a new place. We learned a lot from each other and had a lot of fun while doing it. We shared the same excitement over a newfound vegetarian restaurant and our similar sense of humor got us in trouble at nearly every official ceremony because of uncontrollable laughing fits. These facts might seem futile, but in chamber music this kind of understanding is very important. On days where we are in disagreement we just can’t play well and no amount of rehearsal hours can fix that. Music is enigmatic enough as it is, but chamber music works in even more mysterious ways. On good days on stage there can be moments of pure telepathy, where you can both read the minds of your partners, psychically predict the next musical current and still be surprised by the next phrase. It’s a form of magic that is an endless source of inspiration.

Since that first trip to Vilnius we have performed extensively in Europe, Russia, Israel, China, Korea and the United States and won prizes at various international competitions (1. prize International S. Vainiunas Chamber Music Competition, Lithuania - 1. prize Salieri-Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition, Italy - 1. prize Orlando Competition, The Netherlands - 2. prize Gianni Bergamo Award Competition, Switzerland). Debuts at the Salzburg Chambermusic Festival, the New York Chamber Music Festival and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam followed. In March 2017 we made an extensive tour through China and Korea, as well as Israel. In April 2017 we released our debut CD, with works by Borodin and Taneyev, for Naxos Records. A second CD, with works by Lera Auerbach and Shostakovich, will come out in November. We travel the world and explore music with 6 ears, 6 hands and 94 strings, but with one common factor: a love for chamber music.