Gryphon Trio & Nordic Voices at Carnegie Music Hall

Gryphon Trio:

For over 25 years, the Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios, garnering acclaim and impressing international audiences with its highly refined, dynamic and memorable performances. With a repertoire that ranges from traditional to contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia, the Gryphons are committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.

Creative innovators with an appetite for discovery and new ideas, Gryphon Trio has commissioned over 85 new works and frequently collaborates on projects that push the boundaries of Classical music. Christos Hatzis’ multimedia work Constantinople – produced by the Gryphon Trio in partnership with Banff Centre, Tapestry New Opera, Ex Machina, and Music Toronto – continues to enrapture audiences in venues such the Royal Opera House, Linbury Studio.

The Trio tours regularly throughout North America and Europe and enjoys longstanding relationships with organizations such as Music Toronto, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Ottawa Chamberfest. Triple concertos have allowed performances with major orchestras including NACO Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and San Francisco Symphonies and tours with smaller orchestras such as the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.

The Gryphon’s prolific recording catalogue includes over 23 releases on the Analekta, Naxos, and other labels, and is an encyclopaedia of works for the genre. Honours include 13 nominations and three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year, and the prestigious 2013 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Deeply committed to community engagement, education and the development of next generation audiences and performers alike, the Gryphons conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories, and are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music and Trinity College. Since 2010, The Trio’s ground-breaking outreach program, Listen Up!, has inspired and engaged 16 Canadian communities to collaborate on large-scale multi-faceted arts creation projects. The Trio has lead Orford Music’s Piano Trio Workshop since 2013. In 2020, The Trio will direct the classical music summer program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Gryphon cellist Roman Borys is Artistic and Executive Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society. Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as OCMS’ Artistic Advisors in addition to their responsibilities at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where Mr. Parker is the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance and Ms. Patipatanakoon is Associate Professor of Violin and Head of Strings.

Nordic Voices:

Formed in 1996, Nordic Voices comprises six graduates from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Norwegian Academy of Opera, who, in addition to their singing backgrounds, have a broad range of experience from choral conducting to teacher training and composition. It is perhaps this range of interests that leads them to explore a wider than usual spectrum of musical expression, from plainchant to new works commissioned from leading Norwegian composers; from the most sacred of religious texts to the strongly secular.

Nordic Voices enjoy mixing their programmes to the point of what many would consider extremes. Lassus rubs shoulders with Ligeti and Norwegian contemporary composer Henrik Hellstenius, and Dufay with Huber and Nystedt. Their programme concepts revolve around themes, for example historical figures or textual links, bringing the music to life in sometimes unexpected ways. Nordic Voices have explored the world of electronics, with works exploiting not only electronic amplification, but sampling, mixing and video-art.

In short, Nordic Voices concerts are an unusual blend of sophisticated music-making and stylish performance, more often than not with more than a dash of humour, and thanks to the group’s ability to engage and fascinate, it is increasingly in demand on the international scene. In addition to regular concerts in Oslo and around Norway, recent concert tours have included visits to South-America, Spain, Germany and regular tours of the USA. One of Nordic Voices’ main goals is to be in front of researching in vocal art. This means to explore, as they did in the Concrescence project which led to the Djånki Don recording, new vocal techniques and new way of using the classical trained voice. In the end this means that Nordic Voices can produce a wide range of techniques, from ordinary classical sounds to Mongolian overtone singing.