Trio D’Art

Paul Archibald, trumpet Helen Reid, piano John Kenny, trombone

Trio d’ART made its debut the in magnificent setting of the Dartington Great Hall during the 2008 Dartington International Summer School & Festival, in a program which included the world premiere of “Panta Rei” by the Slovakian composer Juraj Filas, a work already hailed as a contemporary masterpiece. The group has gone on to perform throughout the UK and in Europe, including adjudication and performance at the 2009 Gdansk International Brass Competition, Poland. Their programs combine established repertoire with newly commissioned works which reveal the piano and brass trio as a chamber music medium to rival the flexibility and expressive qualities of the classic string and piano trio. Archibald, Reid & Kenny are all recognised as leading pedagogues, and therefore Trio d’ART is a natural extension of their work in music education. The 2009/10 season has included the world premieres of works by John Reeman and Cecilia McDowall, with new pieces by David Robertson, George Nicholson and Peter Swan eagerly anticipated.

Repertoire:

Cindy CoxCoriolisUSA1989 Michael Lester – CribbTrioUK2002 Jean Michel DamaseTrioFrance1983 Juraj FilasPanta Rei2008 Jan KoetsierGran TrioGermany1988 Cecilia McDowellLe Temps ViendraUK2009 Per NørgårdIt’s all his fancy, ThatDenmark1995 John ReemanFour MiniaturesUK2009

To be premiered in 2010:

Peter SwanTrioUK2009 George Nicholson2010 David Robertson

Paul Archibald Paul’s first appointment was as Co-Principal Trumpet in the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden working with great conductors such as Carlos Kleiber, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Georg Solti. In 1980 he relinquished this position to concentrate on work with his group, the English Brass Ensemble and to perform as a member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the London Sinfonietta.

Throughout the 1980’s Paul travelled extensively with these chamber groups, performing at many musical centres throughout the world. His enthusiasm for contemporary music was reflected in the work of the English Brass Ensemble whose focus was performing contemporary brass repertoire. The ensemble commissioned and premiered many new works and worked with leading composers such as Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Gunthur Schuller, Witold Lutoslawki and Elliott Carter.

In 1984 Paul was a prize winner at the Toulon Prix de Concours, a major international trumpet competition which laid the foundations of his career as a soloist. He has since performed the solo repertoire with many of Britain’s finest orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, London Mozart Players, Britten Sinfonia and the Orchestra of St John’s.

In 1995 he was appointed Principal Trumpet of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and during this period he had the opportunity to perform many of the great orchestral works. Paul is now actively involved in almost every aspect of musical performance: chamber music with Trio D’Art with John Kenny (trombone) and Helen Reid (piano), English Brass, Carnyx Brass Trio and the Fibonacci Sequence: orchestral music as a member of OSJ, Britten Sinfonia and the London Mozart Players: commercial music, having performed on many film soundtracks with icons of popular culture such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Bob Geldoff and duo repertoire, performing in recitals with pianist Helen Reid.

Paul is also based in Trinidad & Tobago working as Principal Trumpet with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and as Professor of Music at the National Academy of Performing Arts, Port of Spain. He is also a member of Chaconia Brass, comprised of principal players with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Trinidad & Tobago.

Paul also edits two series of brass music for Brass Wind Publications: the English Brass Collection consists of new works for brass ensemble and the Paul Archibald Collection consists of new additions to the solo repertoire.

Paul also runs two brass courses throughout the year, at the Dartington International Summer School and the Benslow Music Trust. He is also the Artistic Director of Brass Classics, a recording label featuring the colourful world of the brass repertoire and its performers. His discography includes ‘Joie de Vivre’, ‘Divertissement’ and Peter Maxwell Davies’ ‘Trumpet Sonata’ recorded for the composers own label, Max Opus. As a conductor Paul’s discography includes ‘Proclamation’, with the International Celebrity Trumpet Ensemble and ‘Hodie Gloriosa’ with the London Mozart Players Brass Ensemble

Helen Reid

Helen Reid first came to public attention when she appeared on BBC2 in the National Keyboard Finals of the BBC Young Musician competition in 1998. In 2000 she won first prize in the Karic International Piano Competition. In 2006 she was hailed as a ‘rising star’ in The Independent magazine. Helen has given recitals all around in England, at venues including the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Fairfield Halls and Blackheath Halls, London, St. George’s, Bristol, Cheltenham, the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and the Aldeburgh and Buxton Festivals. She has performed in Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Recent performances have included Rachmaninov’s second piano concerto with the Westmoreland Orchestra and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Aurelian Ensemble at Blackheath Halls. Helen studied at Chetham’s School, Royal Holloway University and Cologne Music College, completing a Master’s Degree at City University and the Guildhall School of Music. She is currently professor of piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Leeds College of Music, Trinity College of Music Junior Department and has been invited to give masterclasses at Gdansk Conservatoire, Bristol and Hull Universities, Dartington International Summer School and Pro Corda. Future plans include solo and chamber recitals around Britain with cellist Sheida Davis and Trio d’Art, as well as recitals at the Salle Pleyel and Hatchlands Park with the London Pleyel Trio, and the world premiere of David Matthews’ piano concerto at the 2010 Dartington International Summer School.

John Kenny

John Kenny was born in 1957 in Birmingham. Internationally recognised for his interpretation of contemporary music, he also performs jazz and early music. As a composer, he is particularly active in collaborations with dance and theatre, and this love of theatre is often an important feature of his recital output. His past commissions have included the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the International Trombone Association, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Edinburgh Contemporary Arts Trust, Chamber Group of Scotland, Dance Umbrella, American Drama Group Europe, The New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas (USA) and the Festival d’ Angers, France. Recent commissions have included a sonata for contra-bass trombone for the American virtuoso David Bobroff, premiered at the Glasgow Brass explosion Festival in 2005 and HeadSpace for trumpet, trombone, sound designer, and the new Head Space device for quadriplegic musician Clarence Adoo, designed by Rolf Gehlhaar, premiered at the St. Magnus Festival in June 2005 and subsequently featured in a BBC documentary. Since autumn 2005, Kenny has collaborated with Welsh Artist Sean Harris to create two animated films, Hela’r Twyrch Trwyth and Dadeni, and they are currently working together on a film based upon the Battle of Mons Graupius.

In December 2005 Kenny acted as narrator in the premier of his own dramatic setting of the Book of Revelation in modern German translation, Das A und Das O for trombone, organ, and actor for the Landshut Festival, going on to give performances in Germany & Switzerland with trombonist Michael Buettler & organist Georg Rothenaicre throughout 2006. In June 2006 Kenny premiered his cantata Nocturne for solo trombone and chamber choir in the Arctic Cathedral of Tromso in Norway, with Vokal Nord, and also composed and directed music for The American Drama Group of Europe’s production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew, which premiered in Singapore and went on to tour the far East and Europe for ten months. In March 2007 Kenny released the sixth in his ongoing series of CD albums on the BML label: The Marshall Plan, collaboration with the American poet Grantly Marshall. In 2007 include solo recitals in France, Portugal, China, and Bulgaria, as well as a three month period as the first ever Glenfiddich Composer in Residence and a period as composer and performer in residence at the Xenakis Institut, located in the Le Corbusier’s iconic Couvent de La Tourette, France.

After studying with Harold Nash at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and then on an Arts Council bursary with James Fulkerson, Kenny worked as an actor/musician with the Bubble Theatre in London, then made his debut as a soloist in the Purcell Room in 1982. In 1983 he was a prize-winner at the Gaudeamus International Competition in Holland, and has since given recitals and broadcast world-wide, both as a soloist and with ensembles including Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt and Ensemble Alternance of Paris, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Paragon Ensemble, and the National Orchestras of Romania and Moldova, and the Sofia Philharmonic. In 1984 he was a founder member of the TNT Music Theatre Company, collaborating with playwright Paul Stebbings in productions which continue to tour hundreds of venues throughout Europe, Russia and Japan, and Korea.

In 1993 John Kenny was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and is currently a professor at both the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he specialises in the interpretation of contemporary music and The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he concentrates on sackbut and the interpretation of early music.

In 1992 John Kenny was invited to join a team of specialists at the National Museum of Scotland committed to reconstruct the Deskford Carnyx. Discovered in northeast Scotland, this is the finest example so far discovered of an Iron Age Celtic war horn, which was the most splendid and powerful wind instrument of the ancient world. In 1993 he became the first person to play the carnyx for 2000 years, and has since lectured and performed on the instrument internationally, in the concert hall, and on radio, television, and film. There are now numerous compositions for the carnyx, and it features on seven CD’s, and on March 15 2003 he performed solo to an audience of 65000 in the Stade De France, Paris.