Aoi Trio

Japan's Aoi Trio made waves by winning the rarely awarded piano trio prize at the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Germany. The group played many prestigious halls while still in its training phase, and it was signed to the Hänssler Classic label. The Aoi Trio (roughly, "ah-oh-ee") was founded in 2016 by violinist Kyoko Ogawa, cellist Yu Ito, and pianist Kosuke Akimoto. The members were all graduates of the Tokyo University of the Arts and spent two years at the Chamber Music Academy of Tokyo's Suntory Hall. The name Aoi both combines the first letters of the members' family names and refers to the Japanese name for the hollyhock flower, which in Japanese culture symbolizes aspiration or fruitfulness. A major breakthrough was the ARD competition win in 2018, which marked only the fifth time in history that that organization had awarded the first prize for piano trios. Two years later, the Aoi Trio released an album on the Meister Music label, featuring Beethoven's Piano Trio No. 1 in E. flat major, Op. 1, No. 1, and Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op. 66. In 2019, the members of the trio moved to Germany, where they enrolled for further study with Dirk Mommertz of the Fauré Quartet at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. During the 2019-2020 season, the Aoi Trio appeared widely in both Japan, at Suntory Hall, Kioi Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, among other venues, and in the West, at the Herkulessaal in Munich and at several festivals. The following season brought concerts with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Op. 56, and with the Nagoya Philharmonic, as well as at the Leiszhalle in Hamburg, Germany, and the Musikverein Regensburg. Signed to the Hänssler Classic label, the Aoi Trio released an album of trios by Martinu and Dvořák in 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo