Biography
Trio Casals, a New York-based ensemble, has earned attention for its programming that pairs standard piano trio literature with contemporary American compositions. Multiple recordings by the group have appeared on the Navona Records label.
The ensemble made its first appearance at the Pablo Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its members are violinist Alexandr Kislitsyn, cellist Ovidiu Marinescu, and pianist Anna Kislitsyna, each of whom maintains an established international solo career. Trio Casals has performed abroad on tours of Romania and China, as well as in such venues as the Holywell Room in Oxford, England, and the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Russia. In the United States, the group has played at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and, since its 2016 debut there, has returned regularly to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Additional concerts have taken place in several eastern seaboard states, along with appearances alongside the Helena Symphony in Montana and the Southeast Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Op. 56. The ensemble also joined the Nashville Ballet for a weeklong residency. Its partnership with Navona Records began in 2015 with the album Moto Continuo: New Works for Piano Trio and Solo Cello.
Trio Casals is known for blending 19th-century trio works with more than thirty modern American pieces in its repertory, among them trios by George Rochberg, Hilary Tann, and Paul Schoenfield. Composers Joanna Estelle, Clive Muncaster, and David Nisbet Stewart have created works specifically for the group. Trio arrangements of Astor Piazzolla’s tango-classical fusions also appear often on its programs. The ensemble’s Navona releases have centered on contemporary music, including the Moto series, which ended in 2021 with Moto Finale and featured world premieres by various composers, among them Marinescu. A new series opened with A Grand Journey in 2021, again emphasizing new music, and continued with A Grand Journey, Vol. 2, in 2023. The following year, Trio Casals joined other ensembles on the album Jan Järvlepp: Sonis and Other Tonix.
The ensemble made its first appearance at the Pablo Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its members are violinist Alexandr Kislitsyn, cellist Ovidiu Marinescu, and pianist Anna Kislitsyna, each of whom maintains an established international solo career. Trio Casals has performed abroad on tours of Romania and China, as well as in such venues as the Holywell Room in Oxford, England, and the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Russia. In the United States, the group has played at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and, since its 2016 debut there, has returned regularly to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Additional concerts have taken place in several eastern seaboard states, along with appearances alongside the Helena Symphony in Montana and the Southeast Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Op. 56. The ensemble also joined the Nashville Ballet for a weeklong residency. Its partnership with Navona Records began in 2015 with the album Moto Continuo: New Works for Piano Trio and Solo Cello.
Trio Casals is known for blending 19th-century trio works with more than thirty modern American pieces in its repertory, among them trios by George Rochberg, Hilary Tann, and Paul Schoenfield. Composers Joanna Estelle, Clive Muncaster, and David Nisbet Stewart have created works specifically for the group. Trio arrangements of Astor Piazzolla’s tango-classical fusions also appear often on its programs. The ensemble’s Navona releases have centered on contemporary music, including the Moto series, which ended in 2021 with Moto Finale and featured world premieres by various composers, among them Marinescu. A new series opened with A Grand Journey in 2021, again emphasizing new music, and continued with A Grand Journey, Vol. 2, in 2023. The following year, Trio Casals joined other ensembles on the album Jan Järvlepp: Sonis and Other Tonix.
Albums
