MONTE PIANO TRIO

piano, violin, cello

…a noble sound quality, high sensitivity and great energy.

(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

The three musicians of Monte Piano Trio – Francesco Sica (violin), Claude Frochaux (cello) and Irina Botan (piano) have performed in major concert halls such as Berliner Philarmonie, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Covent Garden in London, Daning Theater in Shanghai and the Romanian Atheneum. They have been broadcast on BBC, CBS, DLF, WDR, SWR and Radio Clasica. The Trio was founded in 2008 at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt am Main. They were invited to play at renowned festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein, Osnabrück, Mozartfest Würzburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommen and Heidelberg Frühlig. Monte Piano Trio played in Germany, UK, USA, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Romania, Turkey, Holland and Brazil. The Trio has “a noble sound quality, high sensitivity and great energy” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Their debut CD will be released internationally in July 2015 on Genuin Label. They won first prizes at Mirabent Competition in Spain and at the European Karlsruhe Competition in Germany. They are also prize winners at several international competitions including Schumann (Germany), Maria Canals (Spain), Brahms (Austria) and Almere (Holland). They have received a Diploma with Honors from the Musikhochschule in Essen and then continued their studies at Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. The Trio received artistic guidance from distinguished musicians such as Menahem Pressler, Günter Pichler, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ralph Gothóni, Dirk Mommertz, Ferenc Rados and Eberhard Feltz. They are founders and artistic directors of the annual Kammermusikfest Sylt in Germany and are featured on the soundtrack of Maestro, a documentary film which explores the life of musicians through the eyes of Paavo Järvi.