Ahn Trio (Classical Piano Trio)

on Friday, 26 November 2010.

The Ahn Trio are three Korean American sisters who make up a classical piano trio. Their names are Angella (violin), Lucia (piano) and Maria (cello). Lucia and Maria are twins.

They were trained at Juilliard in New York. They achieved widespread recognition in the United States in 1987 when TIME Magazine featured them in a cover story about "Asian-American Whiz Kids".

In 2003, they were selected by People Magazine as three of the "50 Most Beautiful People" and have been featured in Vogue, GQ and in ads for GAP and Anne Klein.

Lucia, Angella, and Maria thrive on dissolving the barriers between art forms. They have fused their work with that of dancers, pop singers, DJs, painters, installation artists, photographers, lighting designers, ecologists, and even kite makers.

Most recently, they performed live at the Czech Grammys with Tata Bojs, and received critical acclaim for their collaborative project with the David Parsons Dance Company.

Their first recording, of Ravel and Villa-Lobos trios, brought raves, such as Audio Magazine's "this is one of Ravel's best and never better played", and the next, an EMI recording of trios by Dvo?ák, Suk, and Shostakovich, won Germany's ECHO Award. A 1997 MTV appearance on Bryan Adams' "Unplugged" program led to the development of the album "Ahn-Plugged.

They created their own label, L.A.M.P (Lucia Angella Maria Productions), in order to have more freedom to explore innovative projects and to continually draw new audiences to classical music.

The newest album on Sony BMG Masterworks, "Lullaby For My Favorite Insomniac," is their modern classical take on what they call “lullabies fit for 21st Century insomniacs.”

"Lullaby for my Favorite Insomniac" combines established compositions with material commissioned for this project. Included on the record are tracks that build on music of fellow Juilliard graduate and award-winning composer Kenji Bunch; commissioned works from both Michael Nyman, Roberto Carnevale and Ronn Yedidia; and innovative transcriptions of music by Rodgers & Hart, Astor Piazzolla and David Bowie/Pat Metheny (“This Is Not America”).

The trio is joined on the record by guest vocalists including Susie Suh, Ema Brabcova, Ra.D and Insun Shin. Four CD bonus tracks feature remixes by Tao of Sound, DJ Spooky, Superdrive and Ra.D.

They are currently touring in the United States in support of their new record.