Gould Piano Trio

Lucy Gould, Violin
Alice Neary, Cello
Benjamin Frith, Piano

Formed in 1987, the Gould Piano Trio has established a reputation as one of the most exciting British ensembles to emerge in recent years. Highly regarded in the field of chamber music, they enjoy a career that takes them to major venues both in the UK and overseas.

Their numerous festival appearances have included those in Edinburgh, Cheltenham, City of London, Bath, Litchfield, Orebro (Sweden), Spoleto (Italy), and the BBC Henry Wood Proms Chamber Series. They are also enormously popular visitors to music societies throughout Britain, and have become a familiar ensemble to listeners of BBC Radio 3, giving many live broadcasts from venues such as St. John's Smith Square, Wigmore Hall, St. George's Brandon Hill and the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. Chosen as the British "Rising Stars" for the 1998-1999 season, the trio has recently performed in such prestigious venues as New York's Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts, Birmingham's Symphony Hall and major halls in Paris, Cologne, Athens and Vienna. In March 2001 they debuted at Lincoln Center to an enthuiastic well-filled house. International tours have taken the trio to South Korea, Taiwan, Argentina and Brazil as well as most European countries. They have also recorded a cover disc for BBC Music Magazine, performing works by Beethoven, Fauré and Brahms. Naxos label released their disc of Mendelssohn trios in December 2001. Their most recent recording of the Brahms Piano Trios, was released in 2004 on the Quartz label.

The Gould Piano Trio has been the recipient of many national and international awards: First Prize at the Charles Hennen Competition in Holland was followed by joint First Prize in the Inaugural Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition in Australia. At the 1993 Premio Vittoria Gui Competition in Florence, in addition to winning the overall First Prize, the trio was awarded the Audience Prize.

Highlights of their recent tours include a performance in April 2005 presented by the Frick Collection in New York City and broadcast on WNYC. In 2003 their performance on the Music at the Museum Series in Los Angeles was lauded by the L.A.Times as "a deeply felt performance... (meeting) emotional demands with the highest commitment and deepest artistic insight." The trio's spring 2001 two-week American tour began with a debut at the DaCamera Society in Los Angeles and ended with a Lincoln Center debut in the Great Performers Series in New York City. In November 2002 the Gould Piano Trio toured Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma, before returning to the DaCamera Society. Their 2001-2002 season included a residency of three masterclasses and two performances at the Royal Scottish Academy and a performance at the Norwich Festival, which was broadcast by the BBC.