The Alchemy of the Trio: Clarke, Bruch, and Jacob
ARTISTS
PHILON TRIO
Camilla Könhken, piano
Adam Newman. viola
David Dias da Silva, clarinet
Founded in 2011, the Philon Trio, featuring David Dias da Silva on clarinet, Adam Newman on viola, and Camilla Könhken on piano, share a complicity born of friendship. This chamber music ensemble explores a repertoire which reveals the magic that occurs when they play together. A musical encounter that builds a unified whole from which a unique sound emerges. Selected pieces by Clarke, Bruch, and Jacob do justice to this new “instrument,” born of the chemistry of this brilliant trio.
A FIRST LOOK AT THE REPERTOIRE*
M. BRUCH (1838-1920)
8 Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, Op. 83
R. CLARKE (1886-1979)
Dumka
G. JACOB (1895-1984)
Trio for clarinet, viola and piano
BIOGRAPHY
PHILON TRIO
David Dias da Silva, Clarinet
Adam Newman, Viola
Camilla Köhnken, Piano
Chamber music ensemble for clarinet, viola and piano, created at the Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel, Switzerland, in 2011. They studied with Rainer Schmidt, Claudio Martínez Mehner and Anton Kernjak in Basel and with Eberhard Feltz in Berlin, teacher of the Hanns Eisler Music School.
Starting with the main pieces for this setting (Mozart, Schumann, Bruch, Francaix, Kurtág), they kept building and extending their repertoire with rarely played pieces, contemporary and experimental works, and transcriptions like: L. von Beethoven Trio op. 11, Vincent D’Indy Trio op. 29 (both pieces original for clarinet, cello and piano), the two songs op. 91 by J. Brahms (original for viola, voice and piano), and many others.
They were semi-finalist in 2015 at the International Chamber Music Competition of Illzach, France and at the Salieri-Zinetti Chamber Music Competition in Verona, Italy. In the same year they were invited to the ProQuartet masterclasses in Paris with the composer and clarinetist Jörg Widmann and during the fall of 2017 they took part in a residency at Canada’s Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, where they created and produced their first CD recording, released by Analekta music label in January of 2020.
The group’s name has its etymological roots in friendship from an ancient greek word, and its primary goal is to achieve the utmost sensitivity to sound and approach music with the greatest respect, as befitting the highest form of connection between human beings.
*JM Canada reserves the right to modify the repertoire without prior notice.
