Founded in Hamburg in 2006 by Karla Haltenwanger (piano), Birgit Erz (violin) and Ilona Kindt (violoncello), the trio is now based in Berlin and Hamburg. In 2007 the ensemble won the 4th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in Norway. The ensemble has received musical guidance from Hatto Beyerle, Menahem Pressler and Alfred Brendel.
In the past years, the trio has gained an excellent reputation in the world of chamber music, and it was invited to prestigious venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Festspielhaus Baden‐Baden, Palais des Beaux Arts Brussels, Wigmore Hall London and Philharmonie Berlin.
The season 2018/2019 will see performances at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Musikverein Wien, Konzerthaus Berlin and at festivals such as Ultraschall Festival and Kissinger Sommer.
The Boulanger Trio will play Beethoven’s Tripel Concert in Hamburg and Hanoi/Vietnam. Furthermore the musicians will perform Lera Auerbach’s Tripel Concert at Enescu Festival in Bucarest under the baton of the composer herself.
In addition to works of the classical and romantic period, the commitment to contemporary music is an important focus within the trio’s repertoire. The ensemble is collaborating with some of today’s foremost composers including Wolfgang Rihm, Johannes Maria Staud, Friedrich Cerha, Toshio Hosokawa and Matthias Pintscher. They also regularly appear with chamber music partners like Nils Mönkemeyer, viola and Sebastian Manz, clarinet. In 2011, the trio started its own concert series, the Boulangerie, in Hamburg and Berlin. At every one of these concerts, a classical composition is performed alongside a piece of contemporary music. The composer of the contemporary work is always present at the concert and talks with the three musicians about his or her oeuvre.
The ensemble is named after the sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger, whose exceptional personalities and uncompromising devotion to music continue to be a great source of inspiration to the trio.
