Claremont Trio, Trio

Biography

The Claremont Trio won the inaugural Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and was the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. During the 2010-11 season, they perform at Boston’s prestigious Celebrity Series, New York’s Symphony Space, Johns Hopkins University, Dayton’s Vanguard Concerts, and Jacksonville’s Riverside Fine Arts Association, along with the Chamber Music Societies of Phoenix and Sedona, and Pasadena’s Coleman Chamber Music Association. Highlights of recent seasons include concerts at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, UCLA, Stanford, Duke University, and the Kravis Center as well as for the chamber music societies of Seattle, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dallas, Phoenix, Kansas City, San Antonio, and Puerto Rico. The Trio has been featured at the Saratoga, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Ravinia, Bard, Austin, and Norfolk summer festivals.

The Claremonts’ newest recording of trios by Beethoven and Ravel joins their critically acclaimed discography which includes “American Trios” -- a collection of works by Leon Kirchner, Ellen Zwilich, Paul Schoenfield, and Mason Bates -- as well as a collaborative disc with clarinetist Jonathan Cohler on the Ongaku Records label, which received a Critic’s CHOICE award from BBC magazine.

Twin sisters Emily Bruskin (violin) and Julia Bruskin (cello) formed the Trio with Donna Kwong (piano) in 1999 at The Juilliard School. The Bruskins both play old French instruments, Emily’s violin a Lupot from 1795 and Julia’s cello a J.B. Vuillaume from 1849. Donna Kwong is a Steinway Artist. The Claremonts are based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.

Benjamin Hochman has earned widespread acclaim for his performances with the New York and Israel Philharmonics and the Chicago, Cincinnati, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver Symphonies, among others. He has collaborated with the Tokyo, Mendelssohn, Casals, Pražák, and Daedalus Quartets. In 2010 he released his first album on Artek featuring solo works of Bach, Berg and Webern. Mr. Hochman is a Steinway Artist. Mr. Hochman’s 2010-2011 season includes his San Francisco Symphony debut, a solo recital at New York’s 92nd Street Y, and festival appearances at Ravinia, Charlottesville, Salt Bay, and Appalachian Summer. Chamber music projects with esteemed colleagues take place at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia and Boston Chamber Music Societies, and East Carolina University, among others. He has participated in three prestigious residencies: Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center, Isaac Stern’s International Chamber Music Encounters in Israel, and Carnegie Hall’s Professional Training Workshops. Born in Jerusalem, Hochman is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Mannes College of Music, where his principal teachers were Claude Frank and Richard Goode. His studies were supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.