Ahn Trio Ensemble
Called "classical revolutionaries" by New York Newsday, the Ahn Trio is known for expanding the definition and experience of chamber music. Their work blends original compositions by world renowned composers across genres and innovative interdisciplinary collaborations that span visual and multimedia art, street dance, DJ culture, to rock.
Formed by three Juilliard-trained Korean-American musical trailblazing sisters - pianist Lucia, cellist Maria, and former member, violinist Angella - the Trio has released 9 critically acclaimed albums on EMI Classics, Sony Music, Warner Music, and Maria Ahn Music. In addition to two Triple Concertos written for them, Pat Metheny, Michael Nyman, Hyung-ki Joo, esteemed recipient of numerous Academy Awards Maurice Jarre, Mark O'Connor, Tae Hong Park, DJ Spooky, Chiel Meijering, Mark Baechle, Nikolai Kapustin and Kenji Bunch have all written music for them. Most recently, iconic composer Laurie Spiegel wrote a stunning work titled “Island of Peace” for Lucia and Maria to include in their upcoming EP of Laurie Spiegel’s music.
They have performed at President Obama’s White House, the prestigious TED Conference, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Vienna’s Musikverein, New York's Lincoln Center, Leipzig's Gewandhaus, Beijing's Concert Hall, Istanbul's Aya Irini in Topkapi Palace - all around the world where their music was in demand - and were seen on the pages of TIME and VOGUE magazines, as well as on global GAP ads, GQ, and People Magazines’ 50 most beautiful people issue, to name a few.
“Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac,” released by Sony Music, was No. 8 on the Billboard Charts for 26 weeks, and their EMI Classics album won the ECHO Award in Germany. In 2014, Maria released a solo cello EP of David Bowie’s music called “Je T’aime Bowie,” a collaboration with Emmy winning composer Mark Baechle, and the Trio’s musical diary album “BLUE” was released in 2017; followed by Maria & Lucia’s “Love” by Michael Nyman, Maria’s cello cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” & two Trio singles, “Nuvole Bianche" (Ludovico Einaudi) and “Candybox" (Chiel Meijering). The album Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac broke new ground by featuring remix tracks by DJ Spooky, superdrive, and Korean pop icon Ra.D—an unconventional and forward-thinking concept for a classical album at the time.
Ahn Trio’s continued passion for commissioning new music and interest in film music resulted in collaborations with award winning film directors in new music video films - Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianche (White Clouds) featuring actress Yamila Diaz and Candybox’s music video with Point Seven Labs - and the Trio is featured in “Three Sisters” playing Yuryung (written for Ahn Trio by their idol and jazz guitar legend Pat Metheny), a music and art film produced by the Tippet Rise Art Center. The Trio’s vision to spread their Indie classical music beyond concert halls is coming to life, as their music continues to appear in figure skating, modern dance, films and TV. Most recently, Ahn Trio’s music was featured in a documentary film, “Escape from Extinction - Rewilding,” narrated by Meryl Streep. In 2024, new works were commissioned by Maria Ahn Music in collaboration with 3AD to celebrate their late mother Young Joo Rhee’s legacy: Bogdanovic’s PRISMS - SIX SONGS BY STING, which will be recorded next year, as well as a new work written for the Ahn Trio by Atanas Ourkouzounov, which was commissioned in their late mother’s name.
The Ahn Trio Ensemble continues to perform in their signature classic Ahn Trio style, now joined by sought-after 'rockstar' violinists Zach Brock and Khullip Jeung.
With their new violinist Zach Brock, performed at sold out concerts of Mark O’Connor’s Triple Concerto and Ahn Trio recital program this past December in Seoul and Yeosu and at the Firenze Summer Festival this June in Florence, Italy. This season, violinist Khullip Jeung joins Maria and Lucia for Ahn Trio performances in NYC.
New collaborations are also on the horizon—with both violinists, a reunion with a K-pop singer, and upcoming projects with their electroacoustic band (((April33))). Ahn Trio [ensemble] continue their unique ahn-classical musical adventures with 3 special EPs coming out this year.
Photo credits Arthur Elgort