ATOS Trio

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"Three voices - one sound"
Detroit Press

A rising star today, the ATOS Trio has already commanded a place among today's finest piano trios.

Founded in 2003 by violinist Annette von Hehn, cellist Stefan Heinemeyer, and pianist Thomas Hoppe, the ATOS Trio strives to convey the spirit of string quartet playing to the piano trio. Never shying from extremes, the ensemble aims to cross borders and push limits when it comes to sound and dynamism.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award recognized the achievement of the ATOS Trio and awarded this distinction to the trio in 2007. It offers the winners twenty important US concerts including a debut concert at New York's Carnegie Hall and performances in Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Detroit, Kansas City, and Tucson. The Detroit Press proclaimed "Three voices – one sound: The kind of pitch-perfect unanimity of phrasing, tone, feeling and interpretation that distinguishes the finest chamber ensembles."

In the same year, at the 5th Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the ATOS Trio took not only the First Prize but also the Grand Prize, the Musica Viva Tour Prize, and the Audience Prize. Never before in the history of this competition, held only every four years, has a single ensemble acquired all those honors. One year earlier the ATOS Trio won First Prize and the distinction for best interpretation of a work by Schubert at the International Competition in Graz, Austria, called Franz Schubert and the Music of Modern Times.

Most recently, the ATOS Trio became BBC Radio 3 New Generations Artists for 2009/'11 for a number of recording sessions and to be part of important music festivals in Great Britain during the 2010/'11 and 2011/'12 seasons.

The ATOS Trio has performed more than 300 concerts and appeared at prestigious festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, the City of London Festival, Budapest Spring, and Enescu Festival, Bucharest.

During the upcoming seasons, the ATOS Trio will give debuts at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; and "down under" in Australia and New Zealand. They will appear with national and international symphony orchestras to perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Martinu's Concertino.

In 2005, the debut CD was released by Ars Musici with works by Beethoven, Brahms and Kirchner. Two CDs followed in 2008, one on the Acica label with works by Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, and the other on the CPO label with the complete trios by Heinrich von Herzogenberg, which sold out its first release. The latest CD, released by CPO in 2010, highlights the works of Czech composer Josef Suk. These recordings attracted critical attention and musical acclaim: "These CD recordings give proof of the exceptional musicality of these young, musical 'treasure hunters'" (Spiegel Online).

The ATOS Trio is an active participant in the Rhapsody in School project in Germany initiated by pianist Lars Vogt. The musicians, fluent in the English language, can convey a vivid, multi-faceted and hands-on picture of classical music and classical music artists in order to reach even the youngest audience.

August 2010 - Please disregard any undated biographies