GRYPHON TRIO
PIANO TRIO
"Not only extra-ordinary instrumentalists but they have also mastered the art of ensemble playing"
- WESER KURIER, Germany
BIOGRAPHY
ANNALEE PATIPATANAKOON, violin
ROMAN BORYS, cello
JAMES PARKER, piano
With a third JUNO win this year, the Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios, garnering acclaim and impressing international audiences with its highly refined, dynamic and memorable performances. With a repertoire that ranges from traditional to contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia, the Gryphons are committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.
Creative innovators with an appetite for discovery and new ideas, Gryphon Trio has commissioned over 85 new works and frequently collaborates on projects that push the boundaries of Classical music. Christos Hatzis’ multimedia work Constantinople – produced by the Gryphon Trio in partnership with Banff Centre, Tapestry New Opera, Ex Machina, and Music Toronto – continues to enrapture audiences in venues such the Royal Opera House, Linbury Studio.
The Trio tours regularly throughout North America and Europe and enjoys longstanding relationships with organizations such as Music Toronto, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Festival of the Sound. Triple concertos have allowed performances with major orchestras including NACO Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and San Francisco symphonies and tours with smaller orchestras such as the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.
The Gryphon’s prolific recording catalogue includes over 23 releases on the Analekta, Naxos, and other labels, and is an encyclopedia of works for the genre. Honours include thirteen nominations, three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year, Opus Magazine Album of the Year, and the prestigious 2013 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Deeply committed to community engagement, education and the development of next generation audiences and performers alike, the Gryphons conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories, and are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music and Trinity College. Since 2010, The Trio’s ground-breaking outreach program, Listen Up!, has inspired and engaged 16 Canadian communities to collaborate on large-scale multi-faceted arts creation projects. The Trio has lead Orford Music’s Piano Trio Workshop since 2013. In 2020, The Trio will direct the classical music summer program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Gryphon cellist Roman Borys is Artistic and Executive Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society. Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as OCMS’ Artistic Advisors in addition to their responsibilities at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where Mr. Parker is the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance and Ms. Patipatanakoon is Associate Professor of Violin and Head of Strings.
January 2023
REVIEWS
"The Gryphon Trio show themselves to be well up for the task, once again affirming their status as one of Canada’s premiere ensembles."
- WHOLENOTE
"This is a piano trio that plays with strength and unanimity...big, bold, almost orchestral performances."
- THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
“As playing per se, this is exquisite. I don’t just mean technically, though the ensemble and tonal control can be almost breathtaking. Both performances bring out the kind of delicacy and sensuous beauty that’s often overlooked in Beethoven.” [Beethoven Trio: Analekta CD]
- BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
"The Gryphon's musical conversations are animated and charming...it has character and detail to spare, and elegance is no small accomplishment."
- THE GLOBE AND MAIL, Toronto
"Not only extra-ordinary instrumentalists but they have also mastered the art of ensemble playing"
- WESER KURIER, Germany
“…dynamics of unusual depth and variety…”
- THE WASHINGTON POST
“The evening’s highlight came as the Gryphons…dug into the Mendelssohn trio with full-blooded gusto, carrying us off in wave after wave of Romantic emotion. It was musicmaking at its most communicative.”
- TORONTO STAR
"A more popular combination of piano trio repertory than this would be hard to contemplate, but these accomplished accounts by Canada’s Gryphon Trio are worthy competitors in the field…played with musical insight, technical accomplishment and passionate commitment.”
- THE STRAD Magazine
“This is where an outstanding group such as the Gryphon Trio really comes into its own. Unshackled from the interpretative constraints of the nineteenth-century rhetorical tradition (as few twentieth-century artists were), they play with a compelling directness, spontaneity and free-flowing expressivity that has Beethoven’s muse emerging with the insatiable vitality of a young man flexing his creative muscles in public for the first time.” [ Beethoven Trio: Analekta CD]
- INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
“Cet excellent Trio canadien, don’t la violoniste, Annalee Patipatanakoon, fut laureate de notre CMIREB, confirme par ce troisieme CD les qualities de raffinement sonore et d’élegance de style qui en font l’une des toutes premiéres formations actuelles dans ce domaine. [Mendelssohn/ Lalo Trio: Analekta CD]
- CRESCENDO MAGAZINE, Belgium
PHOTOS
Photography
Daniel Ehrenworth
Shin Sugino
Johne Beebe
Bo Huang
Click each image to download a hi-res version
PREFERRED CONCERTO LIST
2020–23
Beethoven
Triple Concerto
John Estacio*
Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello
Paul Frehner*
Berliner Konzert - Triple Concerto
Bohdana Frolyak
Music of Dreams - Triple Concerto
Nicole Lizée*
Wunderkammer (création)
Jordan Pal*
Starling: Triple Concerto
Ron Royer*
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Cello and Piano
Jeffrey Ryan*
Equilateral – Piano Trio Concerto
*Denotes Canadian composer
Recital repertoire available upon request
Master classes and workshops available
Other concerti available upon request
DISCOGRAPHY
Beethoven, Wright: Immortal and Beloved
(with David John Pike)
Analekta 2 9522
The End of Flowers
Analekta 2 9520
Jordan Pal: Into the Wonder
(with Arthur Post conducting Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra)
Analekta 2 9521
Dark Star Requiem
Centrediscs CD 1709
Elements Eternal: New Canadian Works
(w/Julie Nesrallah)
Naxos 8.573533
For the End of Time: Messiaen, Louie, Silvestrov/James Campbell
Analekta 2 9861
Gryphon Trio: Great Piano Trios 9 Cd Box set
Analekta 2 9510-8
Broken Hearts & Madmen: with Patricia O'Callaghan
Analekta 2 9870
Jeff Ryan: Fugitive Colours - Equilateral/Vancouver Symphony, Bramwell Tovey
Naxos
Beethoven: Piano Trios - Op. 70, Nos. 1 & 2; Op. 11
Analekta 2 9860
Beethoven: Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 2; Piano Trio Op. 97 "Archduke"
Analekta AN 2 9858
Tango Nuevo: Piazzolla, Durán, Ginastera
Analekta AN 2 9857
Schubert: Complete Piano Trios
Analekta AN 2 9855-6
Christos Hatzis’ Constantinople
Analekta AN 2 9925
Shostakovich: Piano Trios 1&2
Analekta AN 2 9854
W.A. Mozart: Piano Trios
Analekta AN 2 9827-8
Dvorak and Mendelssohn: Piano Trios
Analekta FL 2 3110
Haydn: Four Piano Trios
Analekta FL 2 3104
Mendelssohn and Lalo: Piano Trios
Analekta FL 2 3127
Beethoven: Op. 1, Nos. 1 & 3
Analekta FL 2 3170
Canadian Premieres: Murphy, Chan Hatzis, Kulesha*
Analekta FL 2 3174
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