EN COULEUR
TRIO COLORES
Photo: Akvilé Sileikaité
Camille Saint-Saëns | Maurice Ravel | Darius Milhaud | Claude Debussy | Germaine Tailleferre
When the musicians of TrioColores perform works by French composers, transferring them into a new world of sound, they accomplish this using two marimbas, three vibraphones, and two chimes. Over the course of five years, Matthias Kessler, Luca Staffelbach, and Fabian Ziegler have explored the endless potential of percussion instruments, culminating in their CD debut.
TrioColores was founded at the Zurich Hochschule der Künste (Academy of the Arts). From the very beginning, the three young musicians felt excited about the full spectrum of tonal possibilities inherent in percussion – not just the multitude of drums and other percussive instruments, but also the so-called mallet instruments.
With these mallets, the percussion section grows beyond its role as a merely rhythmic instrument and instead evolves into a full-fledged melodic and sound-creating instrument. During their concerts, Matthias Kessler, Luca Staffelbach, and Fabian Ziegler receive enthusiastic feedback: the audience is pleasantly surprised by the variety of musical possibilities for this instrumentation, as well as by the high synchronicity in performance which leads the three musicians to grow together into a unified whole. That is precisely how the musicians define their ideal: “We aspire to make each instrument sound as if it was a part of a single large body of sound. With this goal in mind, we carefully
calibrate balance, dynamics, and articulation. Vibraphone, marimbas, metal and wood plates, chimes and other sound boxes offer the chance to summon up unknown nuances and colors from this music.”
The repertoire choices for this CD debut were not made coincidentally. Composers who challenged conventional structures on their constant search for new modes of expression were of particular interest. “How can we give this our own spin? How do we include our own ideas, while simultaneously respecting the original spirit of the work?” These where the questions leading TrioColores’ discovery of their repertoire. In the end, it was about staying true to the work on a deeper level despite their individuality in sound.
Camille Saint-Saëns’ composition ‘Danse Macabre’ seems predestined for an adaptation for percussion instruments; after all, in the original, a xylophone is used to portray the sound of rattling bones. The piece is one of the most impressive and sensational depictions of the dance of the dead, during which death calls forth the dead out of their graves for a nightly dance.
At first, Maurice Ravel wrote his ‘Tombeau de Couperin’ for piano; later he arranged four of the movements for chamber orchestra. Here, Ravel transforms diverse baroque stylistic elements into a modern tonal language. The included fugue
turned out to be ideal for an adaptation for three vibraphones. Darius Milhaud’s concert suite ‘Scaramouche’ was originally composed for two pianos. “Whatever a pianist can play alone with one hand, takes two hands with two drumsticks each on a mallet instrument,” explains Luca Staffelbach the challenge inherent in this piece. In the case of Claude Debussy’s ‘Petite Suite,’ too, TrioColores came up with new technical and artistic solutions in an effort to, on the one hand, stay true to the musical spirit of such a work while on the other hand unearthing entirely new, hitherto undiscovered facets of this music. Germaine Tailleferres’ ‘Toccata pour deux Pianos’ is only seldomly heard in the standard repertoire. It is a rhythmically and dynamically challenging piece which balances out all opportunities of a piano duo in its original version. It gave the three percussionists of TrioColores with their virtuosic love for experimentation a lot to work with.
TrioColores
Innovative, multi-faceted, full of energy. That is how TrioColores, consisting of Matthias Kessler (*1997), Luca Staffelbach (*1996), and Fabian Ziegler (*1995), presents itself. The young musicians are united by a shared years-long passion for percussion and their endless joy in making music. They combine these qualities in their virtuosic performances as TrioColores. Kessler, Staffelbach, and Ziegler present a broad spectrum of percussive literature. With classical as well as contemporary pieces, they convey to their listeners the multifacetedness of percussion instruments in uniquely conceptualized concerts.
In addition to the typical literature for percussion instru-ments, the trio likes to expand its repertoire to include adaptations of classical music as well. At first a labor of love, this approach has by now become a special area of expertise for the trio. Through their sophisticated arrangements and tasteful musical interpretations, the ensemble newly establishes percussion within the classical concert business. This concept has already led them to many well-known classical festivals and in 2021 to their debut at the chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonic, where they performed Ravel’s ‘Le Tombeau de Couperin.’
TrioColores is a very active ensemble, which is seen not only in their very nearly fully booked concert calendar but also in the numerous awards they have received at
important competitions. For example, they won the renown Swiss chamber music competition Migros Kulturprozent and its audience price in 2019. In 2022, they were given the Lerman Gold Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition in Easton MD (USA). The trio has also received awards at the international Anton Rubinstein Competition and the Berlin International Music Competition.
The ensemble went on its first tour through South Korea in 2022, playing six concerts which where all enthusiastically received by critics. Additional tours in the U.S. and South Korea followed in 2024. TrioColores’ CD debut will be published in October 2024 under the title ‘En Couleur.’ Furthermore, a triple concerto by Avner Dorman, which TrioColores commissioned, will have its premiere in January 2025 and will be performed by TrioColores together with the Staatstheater Braunschweig.
TrioColores also stands out through their active social media presence. Among other things, they fill video platforms like YouTube with high quality content, thus de-lighting their community of listeners.