Founded in 2011, the Trio Steuermann brings together three Young musicians who share a common passion for chamber music. Its name pays hornage to the American composer and pianist of Polish origin Eduard Steuermann (1892-1964). Starting in 1910 he studied piano with Ferrucio Busoni who introduced him to Schoenberg in 1912. a pivotal moment in his life. As a pianist of the Viennese Verein für Musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) created by Schoenberg, he premiered the Pierrot Lunaire in 1912 under the direction of the composer, as weIl as most of the future works of the Viennese master. He transcribed Erwartung and the Chamber Symphony op. 9, Die glückliche Hand for piano and the Piano Concerto for two hands. With the rise of Nazism, along with
many of his countrymen he immigrated to the United States in 1936 and was a professor of piano at the Julliard School by 1952. During this period, composition took on an important role in his life: many of his earlier pieces were revised, and his most well-known Works date from this time, attested by the Trio in one movement (1954), a serial composition in which the system is applied in a freer manner. René Leibowitz declared that the most striking feature of Steuermann's musical discourse was his 'absolute freedom'.
His 1932 transcription of Transfigured Night by Schoenberg is one of the most emblematic piano trios of the Trio Steuermann repertory. This piece remained unknown for many years as the pianist of the trio for whom Steuermann intended it held on to it; the composer died before it could be restored ta him. It is thus likely that Schoenberg himself was unaware of this transcription published fifteen years later.
ANNE DE FORNEL PIANO
Born in 1984 (Paris). Anne de Fornel devotes her talents to complementary musical fields: as pianist, member of the Trio Steuermann, artistic director of the Ensemble Mesostics and musicologist. In 2006 she received her final diploma (DEM) from the Regional Conservatory of Paris (class of Olivier Gardon), sole first prize unanimously awarded with highest honours; the following year she obtained a Master's Degree with highest honours in musicology from the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV).
Anne de Fomel is currently completing her Masters Degree in piano with Florent Boffard and Svetlana Eganian at the National Superior Conservatory of Music and Dance of Lyon. Laureate of a number of national and international piano competitions, she was named 'Gold Talent 2009' by the International Rotary Club. Participant in master classes with distinguished pianists Gabriel Chodos, Arnaldo Cohen, Klaus Hellwig, Zhu Xiao-Mei, Emmanuel Mercier, Dominique Merlet, Jean-Claude Pennetier and Françoise Thinat, she has likewise perfected her skills with Prisca Benoit, Emmanuel Merder and Jacques Rouvier.
Author of numerous articles on the Second Viennese School and the American composer John Cage, she is pursuing a Doctoral Program in Musicology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) Under the supervision of Michèle Barbe and Jean-Yves Bosseur.
Passionate about contemporary music, as a performer at the Academy of the Ensemble Modern in 2008, she participated in the Klangspuren Festival in Austria and the TransArt Festival in ltaly. Among Works dedicated to her are Moth by Andrea Agostini and 24 Haïku by Jean-Yves Bosseur. Invited to collaborate with the composer Robert Lemay in the 'Chagall Performance Art Collaborative' in Boston in 2010, Anne de Fornel also inaugurated the French venue of Pétales de rêve dans le paravent du vieux moine by Henri Pousseur. The same year she founded the Ensemble Mesostics of which she is the artistic director and pianist. Her piano repertory covers a broad spectrum, from baroque to contemporary music: she recently performed as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Toulouse in a concert dedicated to J.S. Bach's keyboard concertos for the Festival 'Les Floraisons musicales'; she has recorded two contemporary works for piano solo and ensemble for the Integral Classic Label: Trame IV by Martin Matalon and Interstices by Philippe Hurel.
MAIKO MATSUOKA VIOLIN
Born in 1982 (Tokyo), Maiko Matsuoka graduated from the Toho Gakuen School of Music in 2004 where she studied with Toshiya Eto, Angela Eto and Kenji Kobayashi. She has taken part in masterclasses with such prominent violinists as Salvatore Accardo, Thomas Brandis, Michael Gieler and Kyoko Takezawa. First Prize recipient of the Third Eto Toshiya Violin Competition in Tokyo in 1998, she made her concerto debut with the Kanagawa Philharmonie Orchestra. In 2005, she was also awarded First Prize in the 10th JILA Music Competition. As a member of the International Ensemble Modem Academy, in 2009 she completed her studies at the Hochschule fur Musik und Oarstellende Kunst Frankfurt.
Maiko Matsuoka regularly appears with the Ensemble Modern and is a founding member of the Ensemble Interface in Germany, the Isenburg Quartet, the Ensemble Linea in Strasbourg and the Trio Steuermann.
She has recently performed in major venues and festivals inc1uding the 45. Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik Darmstadt, Ultra-schall Berlin, COMC Madrid, Hamburger Klangwerktage, Impuls Festival Graz, Quantensprünge ZKM Karlsruhe, ACMF Seoul, International New Music Week Bucharest, Aspects des Musiques d'Aujourd'hui Caen, Champs Libres Strasbourg and Fondation Royaumont. In 2011, she played with the Yalea Ensemble at Lincoln Center in New York and at the June in Buffalo Festival. A fréquent performer of contemporary music, she has collaborated with leading composers Georges Aperghis, Beat Furrer, Enno Poppe, Heinz Holliger, Brian Ferneyhough, Wolfgang Rihm, Helmut Lachenmann, Isabel Mundry, Liza Lim, Misato Mochizuki. and Joji Yuasa, as well as conductors Péter Eötvös, Stefan Asbury, Han Volkov, Franck Ollu and Myung-Whun Chung.
CHRISTOPHE MATHIAS CELLO
Born in 1983 (Paris), Christophe Mathias is a founding member of the Ensemble Interface (Frankfort), the Ensemble Mesostics (Paris) and the Trio Steuermann. He has performed with the Ensemble Modem (Frankfort), the Ensemble Resonanz (Hamburg), the Ensemble Multilatérale and the Ensemble Cairn (Paris), the SWR Radio Orchestra of Stuttgart and the National Opera of Paris. Christophe Mathias' early training in France includes studies with Marc Coppey and Philippe Muller, as well as master classes of Henri Demarquette, Christoph Henkel, Roland Pidoux, François Salque, Dmitry Ferschtman, Anner Bylsma and Rohan de Saram. In 2004 he was accepted at the Musikhochschule of Stuttgart (Germany) where he studied with Jean-Guihen Queyras; in 2008 he received its 'Künstlerische Ausbildung' Diploma. In 2006 and 2008, he was selected to participate in the Internationale Ensemble Modem Academy (Schwaz) and in 2007 and 2009 in the Lucerne Festival Academy, under the direction of Pierre Boulez.
A 2008-2009 scholar of the Internationale Ensemble Modem Academy, he performed in the Klangwerktage in Harnburg, Ultraschall in Berlin and Edenkoben festivals.
His participation in the semi-final round of the Bach (Leipzig), Domnick (Stuttgart) and Lutoslawski (Warsaw) competitions, as well as his Second Prize in the String Competition of Epernay attest his interest in a broad spectrum of styles. He has recently appeared in the festivals 45. Internationale Ferienkurse Darmstadt, Young Euro Classic Berlin, Kasseler Musiktage. ROTOR in Frankfort, CDMC in Madrid, Klangspuren Schwaz in Austria and Transart in Italy. In 2011, he also performed at the Impuls Festival for Contemporary Music in Graz, the Festival Cinque Giomate in Milan and the Nuovi Spazi Musicali for the American Composition Prize of Rome. Experienced interpreter of contemporary music, he has regularly worked with the conductors and composers Georges Aperghis, Stefan Asbury, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Peter Hirsch, Helmut Lachenmann, Enno Poppe, Lucas Vis, Jorg Widmann and Joji Yuasa.
Christophe Mathias plays a J-L. Prochasson cello (1994).