Biography
The Lincoln Trio stands among America’s foremost chamber groups, recognized for an unusually wide-ranging repertoire that embraces both brand-new scores and music drawn from traditions beyond the European canon. Recordings by the ensemble appear on the Cedille and Naxos labels.
Formed in 2003 at the Music Institute of Chicago, the trio took its name from Illinois, popularly known as the “Land of Lincoln.” Its members are violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, cellist David Cunliffe, and pianist Marta Aznavoorian. Each maintains an independent international career: Ruhstrat has toured Europe and played at the White House; Cunliffe has appeared with leading British orchestras and belongs to the Balanescu Quartet; Aznavoorian has performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the John F. Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House. Momentum for the group increased after it won the 2008 Master Players International Competition in Venice, Italy, received the 2011 Young Performers Career Advancement Award, and issued two Cedille albums—In Eleanor’s Words, which presents music by Stacy Garrop, and Notable Women.
In concerts and on disc the Lincoln Trio has repeatedly championed an eclectic mix of works. It has commissioned and introduced numerous contemporary pieces, among them seven trios written by members of the Chicago Composers Consortium. Additional collaborators include Conrad Tao, Laura Elise Schwendinger, and Juan Antonio Cuéllar. Partnerships with the Chinese Fine Arts Society and the Korean Sejong Cultural Society yielded three Korea-inspired compositions that the trio premiered and recorded in 2013. Festival and hall appearances have taken the ensemble to Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial observance in Springfield, Illinois, where President Barack Obama was present. The players joined the 2013 recording of James Whitbourn’s Annelies, a setting of texts from The Diary of Anne Frank, and released Trios from Our Homelands in 2016; both projects earned Grammy nominations. By the early 2020s the trio’s discography exceeded ten albums, among them 2021’s Trios from the City of Big Shoulders and 2022’s Trios from Contemporary Chicago. The ensemble serves as artists-in-residence at Chicago’s Merit School of Music.
Formed in 2003 at the Music Institute of Chicago, the trio took its name from Illinois, popularly known as the “Land of Lincoln.” Its members are violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, cellist David Cunliffe, and pianist Marta Aznavoorian. Each maintains an independent international career: Ruhstrat has toured Europe and played at the White House; Cunliffe has appeared with leading British orchestras and belongs to the Balanescu Quartet; Aznavoorian has performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the John F. Kennedy Center, and the Sydney Opera House. Momentum for the group increased after it won the 2008 Master Players International Competition in Venice, Italy, received the 2011 Young Performers Career Advancement Award, and issued two Cedille albums—In Eleanor’s Words, which presents music by Stacy Garrop, and Notable Women.
In concerts and on disc the Lincoln Trio has repeatedly championed an eclectic mix of works. It has commissioned and introduced numerous contemporary pieces, among them seven trios written by members of the Chicago Composers Consortium. Additional collaborators include Conrad Tao, Laura Elise Schwendinger, and Juan Antonio Cuéllar. Partnerships with the Chinese Fine Arts Society and the Korean Sejong Cultural Society yielded three Korea-inspired compositions that the trio premiered and recorded in 2013. Festival and hall appearances have taken the ensemble to Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial observance in Springfield, Illinois, where President Barack Obama was present. The players joined the 2013 recording of James Whitbourn’s Annelies, a setting of texts from The Diary of Anne Frank, and released Trios from Our Homelands in 2016; both projects earned Grammy nominations. By the early 2020s the trio’s discography exceeded ten albums, among them 2021’s Trios from the City of Big Shoulders and 2022’s Trios from Contemporary Chicago. The ensemble serves as artists-in-residence at Chicago’s Merit School of Music.
Albums
