It was a breathtaking night in March 2018 when the Raphael Trio performed at Ner Shalom, using the piano that had belonged to cellist Susan Salm’s mother, a piano that had survived the Nazis and which had become a refugee in America.
Well, the Raphael Trio has agreed to return for an encore!
In November of 1975, the newly-formed Raphael Trio made “a most auspicious debut” (The New York Times) at Carnegie Hall as winners of the Concert Artists Guild Award. They have since been presented regularly in the leading concert halls of the United States and Europe, appearing in London, Geneva, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, Washington DC, San Francisco, Denver, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Chicago, Boston and New York.
In celebration of their 25th Anniversary, they performed the complete Beethoven trios in cycles in Washington DC (Phillips Collection), Vermont (Marlboro College), and in gala appearances in New York at the Kosciusko Foundation. These performances were broadcast by WNYC and Performance Today, NPR’s live broadcast concert series.
The Washington Post says “These gifted musicians play with an almost palpable intensity. They launched into a detailed and emotionally gripping performance that allowed all to triumph both individually and collectively.”
A Raphael Trio performance can be seen here: