Biography
The Claremont Trio has appeared across prominent American chamber music stages throughout the United States while balancing standard repertory against newly created and commissioned pieces in both its concerts and recorded output. Twin sisters Emily Bruskin on violin and Julia Bruskin on cello, together with pianist Donna Kwong, established the ensemble in 1999 at New York’s Juilliard School, where the three musicians had trained; Andrea Lam later succeeded Kwong at the keyboard while the other members stayed in place. The group took its name from Claremont Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where it continues to maintain its base. In 2001 the trio captured the Young Concert Artists International Auditions prize—the first piano trio ever to do so—and made its New York debut that same year at the 92nd Street Y. Two years afterward it received the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award, then issued its debut recording of Felix Mendelssohn trios on the Arabesque label in 2004. Launching its own Tria imprint, the ensemble brought out an album of works by Shostakovich and Anton Arensky in 2006. It next moved to the Ongaku label for a 2008 collection of chamber pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, and Ernst von Dohnányi, which was introduced at Joe’s Pub within New York’s Public Theater complex. Appearances have included the Library of Congress in Washington, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Carnegie Hall in New York, and chamber series in numerous additional cities. Festival engagements have taken the trio to Ravinia near Chicago, Mostly Mozart in New York, the Moab Chamber Music Festival, and other sites, while performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Op. 56, have occurred with the Nashville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and Utah Symphony, among further orchestras. Programming and recordings have consistently alternated between established repertory and contemporary scores, many commissioned directly by the group. During the 2017–2018 season the ensemble introduced Kati Agócs’ Queen of Hearts at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon, and joined the Boston Modern Orchestra Project for Eric Sawyer’s Triple Concerto. Additional releases have appeared on Bridge and American Modern Recordings; on its own Tria label the trio issued the 2022 album Queen of Hearts, containing the Agócs work alongside five further commissions.
Albums
