News
BBC Radio 3 in tune - 16 Nov 2022
Listen to the Minerva Piano Trio on BBC Radio 3's In Tune programme for an interview and performance from the new album Dance! Available for 30 days from 16th November Listen here (from around 16’).
review of dance! by international piano magazine
dance! featured in apple music’s new in classical playlist
OCtober 2022 | NEW ALBUm release: DANCE!
Upcoming CD Album Release
Trios by Caroline Shaw, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Richard Birchall.
Release Date: October 21st 2022
award 2022: do it differently fund from Help musicians UK
10th January 2022 – We are excited to be the recipient of Help Musician’s Do It Differently Fund which supports the making of our debut album with SOMM Recordings in 2022. Release date to be announced shortly.
debut album announcement & KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN
Performing Stravinsky’s Pulcinella at Christ Church Kensington, Nov 2021
22 November 2021 – The Minerva Piano Trio are thrilled to record and release our debut album in 2022 on the renowned SOMM Recordings label. The theme is Dance! Featuring new arrangements of Ravel and Stravinsky's legendary Ballets Russes compositions and works by exciting composers of our generation, the dance element is omnipresent.
Please check out our Kickstarter page to find more about this album. We would love for you to play a part in the making of our first album, Dance!
Click here to find out more.
Debut album:
Igor Stravinsky (arr. Birchall) Pulcinella Suite
Richard Birchall Contours
Caroline Shaw (arr. Yim) Gustave Le Gray
Cheryl Frances-Hoad My Fleeting Angel
Maurice Ravel (arr. Knotts) Scenes from Daphnis & Chloé
stravinsky’s pulcinella suite for piano trio
October 2021 – Delighted to announce our new arrangement of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite by our cellist/composer Richard Birchall. The new suite is based on the original ballet, with new movements arranged for piano trio for the first time. We are grateful to the Stravinsky Estate and Boosey & Hawkes for kind permission to create and perform this arrangement. The premiere takes place at Blackheath Halls on 11th October, 2021. Please check our Concerts page for all future performances.
PRIVATE VIEW on ZOOM WITH ST John’s Smith Square
Join the Minerva Piano Trio on Wednesday 25 November 2020, 8pm for a private view event on Zoom, including a concert recorded live at the St John's Smith Square last month and a virtual conversation with the Trio. The hour-long programme features Schubert’s Trio in B-flat major and an arrangement of selected scenes from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe, recorded live in October at the concert hall.
Ravel (arr. David Knotts) - Scenes from ‘Daphnis and Chloe’
Schubert - Piano Trio No.1 in Bb major D898
Free to register at sjss.org.uk to receive a Zoom link and concert info.
A digital version of the concert will be available at www.sjss.org.uk throughout December 2020.
Returning to live concert!
The Minerva Piano Trio will return to St John’s Smith Square on October 22nd with a lunchtime programme featuring Schubert’s Trio in B-flat major and an arrangement of selected scenes from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe, which was commissioned and premiered during the Trio’s Young Artist residency at St John’s Smith Square in 2016/17.
As part of St John’s Smith Square’s re-opening launch of live public concerts Autumn 2020. Digital version will be available from October 29th.
Tickets and more info here.
At Conway Hall, London, March 2019 playing Ravel/Knotts’ Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe, co-commissioned with St John’s Smith Square in 2017, and works by Clara Schumann and Schubert.
Making music selected artist 2019–20
We are delighted to have been chosen as Making Music Selected Artist 2019-20. Each year the Making Music Selected Artists Panel selects a number of established professional musicians and ensembles to be included in Making Music's 2018 Selected Artists guide. Please click here for the guide (see Minerva Piano Trio on p. 31). We look forward to hearing from you!
press: scenes from daphnis and chloe
'The ancient Greek story of Daphnis and Chloe undergoes an exciting re-interpretation in a music and dance programme premièring in London' - Culture Whisper
'On Tuesday 7 March 2017, we had a preview of the Minerva Piano Trio's forthcoming concert at St John's Smith Square. The concert features the premiere of Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe a new transcription by David Knotts for piano trio of scenes from Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe which will be played by the Minerva Piano Trio (Annie Yim, Michal Cwizewicz, Richard Birchall) with new choreography by Patricia Okenwa danced by Estela Merlos and Thomas Gulgec... Annie Yim and Patricia Okenwa talked about the genesis of the work with Paul Hoskins, music director of Rambert, and we saw Estela Merlos and Thomas Gulgec performing the piece with the Minerva Piano Trio' - Planet Hugill
BBC RADIO 3 INTERVIEW & PERFORMANCE
Join the Minerva Piano Trio on BBC Radio 3 In Tune on Friday 21 October for their interview with host Sean Rafferty plus performance of music by Brahms, Schumann, and Richard Birchall. Click on below image to access and listen to the programme (available for 30 days).
MINERVA PIANO TRIO: BRAHMS WORKSHOP
Tuesday 30 May 2017, 10.30am (note: new date)
MINERVA PIANO TRIO AT ST. JOHN’S SMITH SQUARE 2016/17
The Minerva Piano Trio are delighted to be selected as Young Artists in residence 2016/17 by St. John’s Smith Square. The Trio are delighted to take up this exciting residency at the much-loved concert hall in Westminster, Central London from September 2016. Please click here for our Press Release. For more information about St. John’s Smith Square and to book tickets please visit: sjss.org.uk.
Wednesday 23 OctOBER 2016, 3pm
The Genesis of Minerva: Schumann and the Young Brahms
After Robert Schumann declared the young Brahms as a composer ‘fully formed like Minerva’, Brahms responded with the original version of his Piano Trio in B major, Op. 8 in 1854, aged 20. The Trio's revival of this rarely performed work reflects long-term research through a new interpretation. Cellist and composer Richard Birchall’s Contours is his first work for the Trio.
Schumann Piano Trio in D minor Op. 63
Richard Birchall Contours
Brahms Piano Trio in B major Op. 8a (original version)
St. John’s Smith Square Young Artists Series 2016/17
Thursday 9 March 2017, 7.30pm
Dance and Poetic Fantasy
Choreographer: Patricia Okenwa
Dancers: Estela Merlos, Thomasin Gülgeç
Inspired by dance and poetic fantasy, the Minerva Piano Trio reimagine Ravel’s ballet Daphnis and Chloe – the legendary Ballets Russes commission – for the concert stage, transcribed for piano trio, plus new dance choreography by Patricia Okenwa, commissioned in association with MusicArt London. Programme includes works by Mozart, Ravel, and Cheryl Frances-Hoad.
Mozart Piano Trio in B-flat major, K. 502
Ravel transcr. David Knotts Scenes from Daphnis and Chloe, transcribed for piano trio with dance choreography (World Premiere)
Cheryl Frances-Hoad My Fleeting Angel
Ravel Piano Trio
St. John’s Smith Square Young Artists Series 2016/17
Thursday 1 June 2017 1.05pm
Haunting Visions
From the foreboding sounds of Shostakovich’s early piano trio to Gavin Higgins’ The Ruins of Detroit inspired by the powerful photography of the eponymous artwork, this concert invites the listener to enter a visual world. The slow movement of Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio suggests Hamlet’s ghost, an enduringly haunting vision.
Shostakovich Piano Trio in C minor Op. 8
Gavin Higgins The Ruins of Detroit
Beethoven Piano Trio in D major Op. 70 No. 1 ‘Ghost’
St. John’s Smith Square Young Artists Series 2016/17