Program and Artist Biography

The Raphael Trio, which made its debut at Carnegie Hall as winner of the Concert Artists Guild Award in November 1975, has appeared regularly in the leading concert halls of the United States and Europe. Acclaimed for its creative approach to programming, the group is known for its series focusing on individual composers. Among these are cycles of concerts dedicated to the works of Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Dvořák, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Fauré, and Schumann that the trio has played at Carnegie Hall. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the group performed the complete Beethoven trios in cycles of three concerts throughout the United States, including in Washington, D.C. (Phillips Collection), at Marlboro College, Vermont, on WGBH/Boston, and in gala concerts in New York that were broadcast by WNYC and Performance Today, NPR's live broadcast concert series. The Raphael Trio’s performances of the complete Mozart trios at the Vienna Konzerthaus's "Mozart Tage," Magyar Radio’s Mozart Festival in Budapest, and Duisburg's Mozart Festival, as well as in live recordings for National Public Radio and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., garnered it great praise. Ten years ago, the trio performed a three-concert series of the late Haydn trios at Carnegie Hall. In 2009, for the 200th anniversary of Haydn’s death, the trio is repeating the series at The Phillips Collection, where it appears annually.

In addition to being committed to presenting the standard repertoire, as well as the lesser-known works of the great composers, the Raphael Trio maintains an active role in commissioning work from contemporary composers. The trio has performed world premieres of works it commissioned from Frederic Rzewski, Su-Lian Tan, Rainer Bischof, Thomas Oboe Lee, Douglas Weiland, Edward Cohen, Dina Koston, and David Liptak.  In the coming season, it will perform a new work it commissioned from Marjorie Merryman.