Beaux Arts Trio

File:Beaux Arts Trio 1980.jpg

Beaux Arts Trio in 1980

The Beaux Arts Trio was a noted piano trio. They made their debut on July 13, 1955, at the Berkshire Music Festival, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA, known today as the Tanglewood Music Center. Their final American concert was held at Tanglewood on August 21, 2008. It was webcast live and archived on NPR Music. Their final concert was in Lucerne, Switzerland on September 6, 2008.

The Beaux Arts Trio recorded the entire standard piano trio repertoire. In 2005, the trio celebrated its 50th anniversary with two special CD issues, one featuring their most popular releases through their long years of recording (released by Philips Records), and the other an anniversary collection of new music (released by Warner Records). Throughout its existence, the trio was held together by the founding member, pianist Menahem Pressler. The original members of the trio when it was founded in 1955 were:

• Piano: Menahem Pressler
• Violin: Daniel Guilet
• Cello: Bernard Greenhouse

The violin and cello members changed on a number of occasions, with later members including:

• Violin: Isidore Cohen (1968–1992; formerly 2nd violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet), Ida Kavafian (1992–1998), Yung Uck Kim (1998–2002), Daniel Hope (2002-2008)
• Cello: Peter Wiley (1987-1998), then changed to Guarneri Quartet), Antonio Meneses (1998-2008)

In July 2015, Decca Classics released a 60-CD box set to mark their 60th Anniversary.

External links

• Beaux Arts Trio website
• Beaux Arts Trio concerts and interviews on the NPR radio (especially the last concert)
• A live performance on YouTube of Dvořák's Dumky Trio, played on April 20, 2008 at the Herbst Theatre, San Francisco