Lawrence Power appears in the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Ensemble Tour to Amsterdam, London and Eindhoven 2-6 May 2012.
Isabelle van Keulen violin
Lawrence Power viola
Kate Gould cello
The Leopold String Trio is firmly established at the forefront of the international chamber music scene. They were selected for the inaugural BBC New Generation Artists scheme and in 2005 won the Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Ensemble Award. The Trio's latest major project was a complete cycle of Beethoven’s String Trios, performed at the Wigmore Hall and filmed live by Plush Music. These films are available for download via their website. In 2004 the trio were the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Award which they used to help mount ‘Leopold String Trio: The Series’, a three year cycle of concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London and Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton. The Series, which ran from 2005 to 2008, consisted of six pairs of concerts linked by various themes, expressing the scope and versatility of the string trio repertoire. Many of the programmes included guest artists such as pianists Pascal Rogé, Marc-André Hamelin and Paul Lewis, cellist Natalie Klein, and oboist Nick Daniel. They are frequent visitors to the world’s major venues and festivals Their repertoire reflects a desire to seek out and pioneer lesser-known masterpieces as well as a strong interest in contemporary music. They have given the UK premieres of Kurtag’s “Signs, Games and Messages”, Henze’s String Trio, and the world premieres of David Matthews’s Second String Trio and a trio by Judith Bingham. Their recordings for Hyperion Records have all been greeted with outstanding reviews and nominations for awards, most recently a Gramophone Award nomination for the Brahms Piano Quartets. The Trio’s latest recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Hyperion was released in June 2011. In 2009 the 'Friends of the Leopold String Trio' was formed, which supports projects such as new commissions and an annual masterclass for young chamber ensembles.
All three members of the Trio enjoy a varied musical life away from the ensemble. Isabelle van Keulen and Lawrence Power are much in demand as soloists and have worked with most of the major European orchestras as well as in North America, the Far East and Australia. Isabelle also works as director-soloist with various chamber orchestras world-wide. Lawrence is a member of the Nash Ensemble and was the first British winner of The William Primrose International Viola Competition in Canada. Kate Gould plays as guest principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. All three members give many recitals with their respective duo partners.
Last updated: July 2011
Photograph taken by Benjamin Ealovega
BBT Project: The Series - 12 concerts over three years at Wigmore Hall and Turner Sims Concert Hall
"This is an ensemble with a mission - to reignite the public's interest in the string trio repertoire. Long seen as a poor relation to the mighty string quartet, this concert made a real statement about the integrity of the string trio genre...The Leopold Trio's programming is inventive and thought-provoking"
Classical Source 11 November 2006
"Both programmes - the fifth and sixth of eight - characteristically combined established works with some interesting novelties [...] - in short, a thrilling performance that set the masterpiece (Mozart's E flat major Divertimento K563) in a new light"
Daily Telegraph 16 November 2006