The Storioni Festival
The members of the Storioni Trio act as artistic director of the Storioni Festival which takes place in Eindhoven, honouring the ensemble’s roots in the south of the Netherlands.
‘Our festival is a real gift. It gives us the time to develop, especially by performing with other artists (musicians, dancers, actors); it also gives you the opportunity to get to know your audience through and through.’
Exceptional programming, productions and world premieres have put the festival firmly on the international map. Top international musicians, up-and-coming talent and the members of the Storioni Trio share the festival podium with each other.
The Storioni Festival has also commissioned new works for piano trio from leading composers, including Peteris Vasks, Theo Loevendie, Guus Janssen, Giovanni Sollima, Peter-Jan Wagemans, Daniel Bjarnasson and Brett Dean.
Some of the extraordinary productions in past editions of the festival include:
- ‘De Fabel’ (the fable) by Nodar Gabunia about the Rooster and the Fox and scored for Georgian polyphonic song (UNESCO cultural heritage list) and ensemble;
- ‘Dit zijn de namen’ (These Are The Names ) based on the book by Tommy Wieringa, a music-theatre performance in a pitch-dark space in which the audience, musicians and narrator (Tom Jansen) are all part of the performance;
- ‘Smartphone orchestra’ a composition by Arnold Marinissen for piano trio and the audience’s smart phones.
Recent editions of the festival have featured guests such as:
- Violinists Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Ray Chan, Baiba Skride, Alina Ibrachimova and Pekka Kuusisto;
- Pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kathryn Stott, Nelson Goerner and Severin von Eckardstein;
- Cellists Natalia Gutman, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Nicolas Altstaedt, Thorleif Thedéen and Giovanni Sollima;
- Altviolists Vladimir Mendelssohn, Amihai Grosz and Maxim Rysanov;
- Composers Krzysztof Penderecki, Gia Kantsheli and Peteris Vasks; clarinettist/composer Jörg Widmann.
“The Storioni Festival offers an adventurous mix of classic and less well-known, if not new, repertoire”
– de Volkskrant
“The Storioni Festival At Home digital edition provided an effective answer to the threat of art drying up in [the southern Dutch province of] Brabant”
– NRC
“Het Storioni Festival is first and foremost the Storioni Trio. So there was recognition in all senses of the word when, just before the interval, pianist Bart van de Roer, violinist Wouter Vossen and cellist Marc Vossen played a movement from Piazzolla’s Four Seasons. Clear, warm, slightly sensual, it could be said to have set the tone for the whole festival on this first evening.”
– Eindhovens Dagblad