The essence of the piano trio

The Van Baerle Trio ‘plays with an effortlessness and joy of playing that is stunning’, wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung back in 2014. Now, in 2024, the ensemble celebrates its 20th anniversary and the three musicians are at the absolute top both together and as soloists. In the Muziekgebouw, the ensemble, a true trinity, will present the essence of the piano trio in beloved works by Haydn and Schumann. With a new composition by Rob Zuidam and the latest pieces by the prematurely deceased French composer Lili Boulanger, the Van Baerle Trio shows that there is much to discover off the beaten track. 

In November 2020, Hannes Minnaar premiered Rob Zuidam’s piano work Nox in the Muziekgebouw. This work, which ‘stands magnificently between that of giants’ (Het Parool), marked the beginning of a relationship that culminated in a new work for the Van Baerle Trio. There is no doubt that this will be another masterpiece that will easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the classical trios on the programme. The diptych D'un soir triste and D'un matin de printemps is the last that Lili Boulanger notated in her own handwriting, a few weeks before she died at the age of 24.