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Gryphon Trio
Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin
Roman Borys, cello
Jamie Parker, piano
Having impressed international audiences and the press with their highly refined, dynamic performances, the Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios. With a repertoire that ranges from the traditional to the contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia, the Gryphons are committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.
Pushing the boundaries of chamber music, the Trio has commissioned and premiered over fifty new works from established and emerging composers around the world, and has collaborated on special projects with clarinetist James Campbell, actor Colin Fox, choreographer David Earle, and a host of jazz luminaries at Lula Lounge, Toronto’s leading venue for jazz and world music. Their most ambitious undertaking to date is a groundbreaking multimedia production of composer Christos Hatzis’s epic work Constantinople, scored for mezzo-soprano, Middle Eastern singer, violin, cello, piano, and electronic audiovisual media, which they have brought to audiences across North America and at the Royal Opera House in London.
The ensemble-in-residence at Music Toronto for eight years, the Gryphon Trio tours extensively throughout North America and Europe. The 2010-11 season sees the launch of the group’s flagship educational project Listen Up!. Created by the Trio in collaboration with composer Andrew Staniland and music educator Rob Kapilow from What Makes it Great?, Listen Up! involves an entire school in the creation of a new work for choir and piano trio. Under the guidance of Staniland and Kapilow, students are composing poetry and music over the course of the school year, culminating in a joint performance by the Gryphon Trio and the school choir. The project begins in 2010-11 at the Naismith Memorial Elementary School in Almonte, Ontario, and will travel to schools across North America as the Gryphon Trio approaches its 20th season in 2013.
The Trio’s eleven celebrated recordings on the Analekta label are an encyclopedia of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Lalo, Shostakovich, and Piazzolla, and their groundbreaking 2004 release Canadian Premieres, featuring new works by leading Canadian composers, was acknowledged with a coveted Juno Award from Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Deeply committed to the education of the next generations of audiences and performers alike, the Gryphons take time out of their busy touring schedule to conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories across North America, and are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. In addition to Listen Up!, the Trio’s educational initiatives include a series of in-depth lecture performances with composer Gary Kulesha that examine the art of chamber music through the centuries, and the Young Composers Program at Toronto’s Claude Watson Arts High School.
Gryphon cellist Roman Borys is entering his fourth season as Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Society, where the Gryphons have been a mainstay since the Festival’s inception in 1994. Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as the OICMS’s Artistic Advisors.
