Morgenstern Trio

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"Sheer unbelievable virtuosity"
Achener Zeitung

To name a piano trio after the popular 19th century German poet Christian Morgenstern was the inspiration of Catherine Klipfel, piano, Stefan Hempel, violin, and Emanuel Wehse, cellist, who met during their studies at the Folkwang Conservatory in Essen, Germany.

After only two short years of working together, the Morgenstern Trio emerged on the German music scene by continuously being awarded top prizes and awards. In January 2010, the Kalichstein–Laredo-Robinson Trio Award elected the Morgenstern Trio for the most prestigious piano trio prize in the US, which comes with twenty major debuts.

In 2007 the trio took First Prize at the International Joseph Haydn Competition in Vienna, followed by two second prizes: the Fifth Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the prestigious ARD Competition in Munich, where they also received the audience prize. In the previous year they had already won the competitive scholarship of the German Music Competition and most recently, the Morgenstern Trio was named Ensemble in Residence at their alma mater, the Folkwang Conservatory.

Germany's national program for young musicians and the Best of NRW Concert Series have provided the Morgenstern Trio a noticeable platform with numerous concerts across Germany and live radio appearances to showcase their already consummate musicianship. Performances at prestigious festivals followed such the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, France, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Heidelberger Fruehling, the WDR Musikfest, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland.

The debut live CD released in 2008, which features works by Beethoven and Brahms, has captured presenters and critics alike.

For the 2009 and 2010 seasons, the Morgenstern Trio was selected by ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) for the Rising Star Series, granting debut concerts on all the important European stages in Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Cologne, Brussels, Birmingham and Stockholm, to name a few.

Mentors such as the Alban Berg Quartet and Menahem Pressler have given the Morgenstern Trio invaluable coaching and musical insight.

Reviews

"Three stars sparkle... Their debut tour between Hamburg, Wien and Athens, the three exceptional talents, Catherine Klipfel, violinist Stefan Hempel, and cellist Emanuel Wehse used the chance to take the Stefaniensaal in Graz by storm... Mendelssohn's D-minor Trio gets a breathtaking virtuoso-criterion, in which cello solo and the piano cascades do splash 'molto agitato'. If atonality, Schumann-reminiscence and Neo-Romantic do such a listenable Liaison as in Wolfgang Rihms 'Fremde Szene III' (1984), then sizzles high suspense. A great evening!" - Kleine Zeitung, Austria

"Sheer unbelievable virtuosity... In the capacity filled hall, 'Haus der Stadt' one could hear a pin drop. At the fifth chamber music concert in Düüren, the Morgenstern Trio thrilled the audience with its interpretations of the works by Joseph Haydn, B. Smetana and F. Schubert. Chamber music of the highest level." -Achener Zeitung

"Brahms was executed with a grand, rhapsodic breath, audacious tempi and elegant softness. Catherine Klipfel is an inspired pianist with a spectacular palette of playing. On her side, violinist Stefan Hempel demonstrated an intensively sensitive sound and cellist Emanuel Wehse bestowed onto his instrument a noble sound even to the finest pianissimo. There was enormous applause, and the young ensemble proved once again their extra class. They performed encores by Haydn and Mendelssohn." -Fulder Zitung, Germany

"The audience reacted enthusiastically in the filled Paters Church.. The Morgenstern Trio gave an impressive testimonial of their instrumental and musical ability" -Rheinische Post, Germany

"The Morgenstern Trio gave a great concert at a packed house in the Stadthalle Korbach. The recorded concert will be broadcast on November 20, 2010." -Hessisch-Niedersaechsche Allgemaine

"The listener heard everything desirable in a chamber music concert: rhythm, precision, balance in sound and perfect intonation. Above all an organic unity in interpretation. After the last note faded away, the hall was suffocating by silence, as if the audience had to solve a spell before breaking into an orgy of applause." -Muenchner Merkur, Germany

"In Smetana's Trio, the drama of the three movements unfolded that reflected all the emotions of this work. The Morgenstern Trio was able to interpret this work compellingly with a charming glaze, singing, moaning, and with a haunting cruelty. Ugliness and beauty and deepest sadness, all were are formed to an enormous unity." -Fraenkischer Tag, Germany

"The Passacaglia composed in 1914, the trio in A-minor by Maurice Ravel, the Morgenstern Trio was impressive how it created the increase of its sound that seem to explode into a thousands of notes." -Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

USA-Mexico-Canada representation: Marianne Schmocker Artists International

August 2010 - This biography is to be reproduced without any changes or additions - please disregard any undated biographies