THE DELTA PIANO TRIO
Biography
Our piano trio journey started in the autumn 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.
Gerard Spronk, violin (centre)
Irene Enzlin, cello (left)
Vera Kooper, piano
