One 1st and two 2nd prizes at the Schumann Chamber Music Prize Frankfurt - nine international piano trios met for a musical competition and delighted the audience

Af­ter two ex­ci­ting days of com­pe­ti­ti­on on March 11 and 12 in the Gre­at Hall of the Frank­furt Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts (HfMDK), the fi­nal took place yes­ter­day evening in the Mo­zart Hall of the Alte Oper Frank­furt. The three tri­os selec­ted by the jury for the fi­nal round once again gave their best - and all three en­sem­bles cap­ti­va­ted the au­di­ence that evening with their very in­di­vi­du­al style. In short, it was a very spe­cial kind of plea­su­re - and not just for the young mu­si­ci­ans.

In the first part of the con­cert evening - as part of the re­now­ned cham­ber mu­sic se­ries of the Frank­furt Mu­se­um So­cie­ty - the three en­sem­bles that had qua­li­fied for the fi­nal of the In­ter­na­tio­nal Schu­mann Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze Frank­furt 2025 on the pre­vious two days pre­sen­ted them­sel­ves. Af­ter a break for de­li­be­ra­ti­on, the pri­zes were an­noun­ced in the se­cond part of the evening, as was the au­di­ence pri­ze:

The pri­ze-win­ning en­sem­bles
The Bern­stein Trio with Ro­man Tul­chyn­sky (vio­lin), Ma­rei Schi­bilsky (cel­lo) and Ju­lia Ste­phan (pia­no) re­cei­ved the 1st pri­ze and 8,000 eu­ros.
The two 2nd pri­zes and 5,000 eu­ros each go to the Els­ter Trio with Was­si­li Wohl­ge­muth (vio­lin), Da­vi­de Car­las­sa­ra (cel­lo), Ja­co­po Gio­van­ni­ni (pia­no) and the Pad­ding­tin Trio with Tuulia Hero (vio­lin), Pa­trick Mo­riar­ty (cel­lo) and Ste­pha­nie Tang (pia­no).
The spe­cial pri­ze for the most im­pres­si­ve in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on of a work by Ro­bert Schu­mann or his com­pa­n­ions was awar­ded by the Ro­bert Schu­mann So­cie­ty Frank­furt to the Bern­stein Trio. The au­di­ence pri­ze went to the Pad­ding­ton Trio.
All three en­sem­bles won a to­tal of 20,000 eu­ros in pri­ze mo­ney.

Im­pres­si­ve­ly high com­pe­ti­ti­on le­vel
The Frank­furt 2025 In­ter­na­tio­nal Schu­mann Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze was held in the ca­te­go­ry of Pia­no Trio. Ele­ven young en­sem­bles from all over the world ori­gi­nal­ly wan­ted to tra­vel to Frank­furt this week. They had sent in vi­de­os in ad­van­ce, which were re­view­ed by the jury. They were selec­ted and in­vi­ted to Frank­furt. In the end, nine pia­no tri­os took part in the mu­si­cal com­pe­ti­ti­on - a cham­ber mu­sic ma­ra­thon for the jury. "Howe­ver, the past three days were anything but a com­pul­so­ry pro­gram due to the enor­mously high ar­tis­tic and tech­ni­cal le­vel over­all. Ra­ther, from the first en­sem­ble per­for­mance to the fi­nal in the Mo­zart Saal, we re­al­ly en­joy­ed the con­cert cha­rac­ter, the con­cert pro­gram of each en­sem­ble and the at­mo­s­phe­re in the com­pe­ti­ti­on and at the HfMDK," sums up Hei­me Mül­ler, the jury chair­man. "It is a very spe­cial com­pe­ti­ti­on, also be­cau­se of the de­tail­ed feed­back dis­cus­sions with the jury that take place af­ter the se­cond round. A crow­ning fi­na­le of the com­pe­ti­ti­on is the per­for­mance of the fi­nal in the cham­ber mu­sic se­ries of the Mu­se­um Con­certs in the Alte Oper Frank­furt - and thus in one of the most im­portant con­cert halls in Eu­ro­pe," adds An­ge­li­ka Merk­le, the ar­tis­tic di­rec­tor of the com­pe­ti­ti­on.

In­spi­ra­ti­on Schu­mann - mee­ting place for cham­ber mu­sic
The com­pe­ti­ti­on was laun­ched back in 2008 as the Com­merz­bank Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze and fo­cu­sed on the pia­no trio and pia­no quar­tet gen­res from the out­set. It has re­mai­ned true to this fo­cus un­der its new name - af­ter all, Ro­bert Schu­mann was a grand mas­ter of pia­no cham­ber mu­sic. The Main me­tro­po­lis also had a spe­cial si­gni­fi­can­ce for Ro­bert and Cla­ra Schu­mann. And be­cau­se many con­tem­pora­ry com­po­sers still find Ro­bert Schu­mann an im­portant source of in­spi­ra­ti­on to­day, a work by Ro­bert Schu­mann or one of his epo­chal com­pa­n­ions is al­ways a com­pul­so­ry pie­ce in the com­pe­ti­ti­on.

The high-ca­li­ber jury of the In­ter­na­tio­nal Schu­mann Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze Frank­furt con­sisted of:
Mar­tin Fun­da, Pro­fes­sor of Cham­ber Mu­sic at the Stutt­gart Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts and lea­der of the Ar­mi­da Quar­tet

Ste­fan Hei­nemey­er, lec­tu­rer in string cham­ber mu­sic at the Hoch­schu­le für Mu­sik, Thea­ter und Me­di­en and cel­list of the Atos Trio

An­ge­li­ka Merk­le, Pro­fes­sor of Pia­no Cham­ber Mu­sic at the HfMDK, Ar­tis­tic Di­rec­tor of the In­ter­na­tio­nal Schu­mann Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze Frank­furt and the Fes­te­burg Con­certs Frank­furt

Hei­me Mül­ler, Pro­fes­sor of Vio­lin and Cham­ber Mu­sic at the Lü­beck Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and (for­mer) 1st and 2nd vio­li­nist of the Ar­te­mis Quar­tet for many ye­ars

Bart van de Roer, pro­fes­sor of pia­no and cham­ber mu­sic at the Rot­ter­dam Con­ser­vato­ry (Codarts) and pia­nist of the Sto­rio­ni Trio

The Schu­mann Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze Frank­furt is or­ga­ni­zed by the Frank­furt Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts (HfMDK) and si­gni­fi­cant­ly sup­por­ted by the Dr. Mar­sch­ner Foun­da­ti­on.
Part­ners are the Frank­fur­ter Mu­se­ums-Ge­sell­schaft, the Ro­bert Schu­mann-Ge­sell­schaft Frank­furt, the HfMDK Foun­da­ti­on and the Fes­te­burg­kon­zer­te as well as hr2 kul­tur as cul­tu­ral part­ner.

Bern­stein Trio
Ro­man Tul­chyn­sky, vio­lin
Ma­rei Schi­bilsky, vio­lon­cel­lo
Ju­lia Ste­phan, pia­no
The Bern­stein Trio was foun­ded in 2022 and con­sists of Ro­man Tul­chyn­sky, Ma­rei Schi­bilsky and Ju­lia Ste­phan. The mu­si­ci­ans met at the Carl Phil­ipp Ema­nu­el Bach Mu­sic High School in Ber­lin and are now stu­dy­ing at the Ber­lin Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts and the Hanns Eis­ler Aca­de­my of Mu­sic Ber­lin. As an en­sem­ble, they re­cei­ve les­sons from Jo­na­than Aner at the Hanns Eis­ler Aca­de­my of Mu­sic.
The Bern­stein Trio has at­ten­ded va­rious mas­ter­clas­ses in Ger­ma­ny, Fran­ce and Switz­er­land and has worked with ar­tists such as An­toi­ne Ta­me­s­tit, Va­len­tin Er­ben, Dirk Mom­mertz, the Ar­te­mis Quar­tet and the Vog­ler Quar­tet. It made its de­but at the Rhein­gau Mu­sic Fes­ti­val in sum­mer 2023, whe­re it re­cei­ved the HA Hes­sen Agen­tur GmbH spon­sor­ship award. At the Ger­man Mu­sic Com­pe­ti­ti­on 2024, the trio was awar­ded a scho­l­ar­ship in the Ger­man Mu­sic Com­pe­ti­ti­on con­cert spon­sor­ship pro­gram and re­cei­ved the spe­cial pri­ze of the Fri­ends of Young Mu­si­ci­ans Meer­busch-Düs­sel­dorf e. V. At the Fe­lix Men­dels­sohn Bar­thol­dy Uni­ver­si­ty Com­pe­ti­ti­on 2025 in Ber­lin, it won first place in the pia­no trio ca­te­go­ry, the Fri­ends of Young Mu­si­ci­ans Pri­ze and the spe­cial pri­ze for the in­ter­pre­ta­ti­on of the com­mis­sio­ned work.
Sin­ce 2022, the Bern­stein Trio has been a mem­ber of the Ye­hu­di Me­nu­hin Live Mu­sic Now Ber­lin as­so­cia­ti­on, which sup­ports young, par­ti­cu­lar­ly qua­li­fied ar­tists and brings mu­sic to peop­le who are un­ab­le to at­tend con­certs due to their cir­cum­s­tan­ces. All mem­bers of the en­sem­ble are scho­l­ar­ship hol­ders of the Ger­man Na­tio­nal Aca­de­mic Foun­da­ti­on.

Els­ter Trio
Was­si­li Wohl­ge­muth, vio­lin
Da­vi­de Car­las­sa­ra, vio­lon­cel­lo
Ja­co­po Gio­van­ni­ni, pia­no
The Els­ter Trio was foun­ded in 2022 by Was­si­li Wohl­ge­muth, Da­vi­de Car­las­sa­ra and Ja­co­po Gio­van­ni­ni and soon won the cham­ber mu­sic com­pe­ti­ti­on of the Leip­zig Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts. It has gi­ven con­certs at ve­nues in­clu­ding the Gohli­ser Schlöss­chen in Leip­zig and Stad­tha­gen Cast­le.
Sin­ce Oc­to­ber 2023, the Els­ter Trio has been stu­dy­ing in Prof. An­ge­li­ka Mer­kle's class at the Frank­furt Uni­ver­si­ty of Mu­sic and Per­forming Arts (HfMDK). The en­sem­ble is a Jeu­nesses Mu­si­ca­les Deutsch­land scho­l­ar­ship hol­der, won the HfMDK en­sem­ble scho­l­ar­ship in 2024 and took first place in the Cham­ber Mu­sic Pri­ze of the Po­ly­tech­ni­sche Ge­sell­schaft e. V., also in Frank­furt. In Ja­nu­a­ry 2025, it took part in the Fe­lix Men­dels­sohn Bar­thol­dy Uni­ver­si­ty Com­pe­ti­ti­on in Ber­lin.
The Els­ter Trio re­cei­ved im­portant im­pul­ses from Prof. Va­len­tin Er­ben, Prof. Bo­ris Kus­ne­zow, Flo­ri­an Schötz, Prof. Hei­me Mül­ler, the Cuar­te­to Ca­sals and Prof. Ta­bea Zim­mer­mann. In the co­m­ing sea­son, the en­sem­ble will per­form at the Rhein­gau Mu­sic Fes­ti­val and the Meck­len­burg-Vor­pom­mern Fes­ti­val, among others

Pad­ding­ton Trio
Tuulia Hero, vio­lin
Pa­trick Mo­riar­ty, vio­lon­cel­lo
Ste­pha­nie Tang, pia­no
The Pad­ding­ton Trio is re­gar­ded as one of the most ex­ci­ting cham­ber mu­sic en­sem­bles of its ge­nera­ti­on and is prai­sed at in­ter­na­tio­nal com­pe­ti­ti­ons and con­certs for its fresh in­ter­pre­ta­ti­ons, ima­gi­na­ti­ve pro­gramming and high­ly cul­ti­va­ted en­sem­ble play­ing. Like Pad­ding­ton, the fa­mous bear, the Fin­nish vio­li­nist Tuulia Hero, the Irish cel­list Pa­trick Mo­riar­ty and the Ame­ri­can pia­nist Ste­pha­nie Tang have found their home in Lon­don and now form a uni­que en­sem­ble.
The tri­o's first ad­ven­ture tog­e­ther be­gan in 2020 at Pad­ding­ton Sta­ti­on. in 2022 it was awar­ded first pri­ze at the 70th Roy­al Over-Seas League An­nu­al Mu­sic Com­pe­ti­ti­on, and in 2024 it won the Triom­phe de l'Art In­ter­na­tio­nal Mu­sic Com­pe­ti­ti­on and the Sto­rio­ni Con­cours, as well as the Park­house Award in 2023. Its cur­rent work is ge­nerous­ly sup­por­ted by the City Mu­sic Foun­da­ti­on, the Kirck­man Con­cert So­cie­ty and GBZ Ma­nage­ment.
In March 2023, the trio per­for­med Beet­ho­ven's Trip­le Con­cer­to for the first time with the Jy­väs­kylä Sym­pho­ny Or­ches­tra in Fin­land. They have also per­for­med at re­now­ned ve­nues such as Wig­mo­re Hall, St. Ge­or­ge's Bris­tol and Ti­v­o­li­V­re­den­burg, as well as at pres­ti­gious fes­ti­vals such as Bux­ton In­ter­na­tio­nal and the Brigh­ton Fes­ti­val.
The en­sem­ble mem­bers com­ple­ted their stu­dies at the Guild­hall School of Mu­sic & Dra­ma in Lon­don and have been stu­dy­ing with Gün­ter Pich­ler at the In­ter­na­tio­nal In­sti­tu­te for Cham­ber Mu­sic in Ma­drid sin­ce fall 2024.
Tuulia Hero plays a Stra­di­va­ri­us vio­lin from 1707, ge­nerous­ly lo­aned by the Si­be­li­us Aca­de­my, Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts Hel­sin­ki.