Trio Balthasar is a new chamber group. Committed to imaginative, diverse programming, they explore established classics of the piano trio repertoire next to less familiar work.

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Since their launch at Wigmore Hall in 2022 they have appeared at the Harrogate International Festival, the Rye Festival, Petworth Festival and the Kirker Music Festival on Ischia. The name Balthasar was initially suggested as a homage to the German baroque architect Balthasar Neumann, and with Balthasar also the name of one of the Wise Men in the Nativity story, there developed the idea of three men on a journey, bearing gifts. Each member of the Trio Balthasar has been praised for their vivacity, emotional depth and breathtaking playing.

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IAIN BURNSIDE

Internationally acclaimed as a leading collaborative pianist, (‘pretty much ideal,’ BBC Music Magazine) Iain Burnside has worked with many of the world’s great singers. His discography features over sixty CDs, spanning a huge sweep of repertoire. Highlights include the Gramophone Award-winning NMC Songbook, Schubert cycles with baritone Roderick Williams on Chandos and a series of English Song for Naxos. He enjoys a close relationship with Delphian, featuring boxed sets of Medtner and Rachmaninoff (‘the results are electrifying’ Daily Telegraph) as well as explorations of Scottish, English and Irish repertoire. He is Artistic Director of the Ludlow English Song Weekend and has curated programmes for a variety of festivals. Appearances at Wigmore Hall have featured several series of Russian song.

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Burnside is also an award-winning broadcaster, familiar to listeners of BBC Radio 3. He has pioneered a particular form of dramatic concert, with works based variously around Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann, Richard Wagner and Ivor Gurney. He has a long association with the Guildhall School and gives masterclasses at home and abroad, while also holding the position of Artistic Consultant to Grange Park Opera.

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MICHAEL FOYLE

Praised for performances of ‘compelling conviction’ (The Daily Telegraph), ‘full of sparkling detail, with tonal beauty and incisive rhythmic clarity, balancing wit and poetry’ (The Strad), Michael launched his career by winning The Netherlands Violin Competition 2016. His performance of Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra led to an immediate invitation to give his debut recital in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

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His London debut followed with a recital at the Wigmore Hall and since then he has performed recitals in Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Buckingham Palace, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Bridgewater Hall and Usher Hall, regularly being broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Recent concerto appearances include with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Polish Baltic Philharmonic and Youth Symphony Orchestra of Russia. He gives recitals at festivals worldwide, including St. Magnus International, New York Chamber Music, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Cervantino Mexico and Mravinsky Festival St. Petersburg.

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His recorded cycle of Beethoven Sonatas in 2022 received five stars in BBC Music Magazine’s review, and similar critical acclaim followed previous releases of World War One sonatas and the complete violin-piano works of Lutoslawski and Penderecki (‘Foyle’s playing is remarkable’ – BBC Music Magazine).

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Alongside his performing career, Michael is Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London (the youngest appointed in the institution’s 200-year history) and at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. He plays a Gennaro Gagliano violin on loan. 

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JONATHAN AASGAARD

One of Europe’s most versatile cellists, the Norwegian Jonathan Aasgaard enjoys a wide-ranging career as a soloist, chamber musician, studio artist, orchestral principal, teacher, and advocate of new music.

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 He is Principal Cello of the Sinfonia of London and appears regularly as guest principal with leading orchestras across the UK and continental Europe. A committed pedagogue, he is Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

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One of Europe’s most versatile cellists, the Norwegian Jonathan Aasgaard enjoys a wide-ranging career as a soloist, chamber musician, studio artist, orchestral principal, teacher, and advocate of new music.

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 He is Principal Cello of the Sinfonia of London and appears regularly as guest principal with leading orchestras across the UK and continental Europe. A committed pedagogue, he is Professor of Cello at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.