Trio Jade celebrates 10th anniversary with its upcoming concert

Trio Jade celebrates 10th anniversary with its upcoming concert. April. 18, 2016 07:36. by 김동욱 기자creating@donga.com. Trio Jade consisting of Park Ji-yoon (aged 31, violin), Lee Jung-ran (aged 33, Cello) and Lee Hyo-joo (aged 31, piano), will hold a concert at IBK Chamber Hall, Seoul Art Center at 8:00 p.m. on this coming Saturday to mark its 10th anniversary. Under the title “Schubert for the Three,” they will play the entire three pieces of Schubert Piano Trio.

The three musician gather three or four times a year to have a performance together. They want to get together more often but geographical obstacle makes it hard as each of them live in Korea and France. “We have personal schedules so it’s not easy to arrange our time together," Lee Jung-ran said. "Once we get together, we spend about a month, staying and practicing together."

They have spent long time together as they studied at Conservatoire de Paris in France in 2002. After graduation, each of them led a solo career, winning awards in Geneva Music Competition, Queen Elizabeth Competition and Isang Yun International Composition Prize. They felt lonely and were under stress from time to time. “As close friends for a long time, we wanted to perform together. It’s like an oasis for our career,” Park said. They began the trio while joining the chamber master's course at Conservatoire de Paris in 2006.

One of the obstacles is a different personality. The life in trio is often likened to that of marriage, meaning that it is hard to understand and be considerate to each other. “We let go of our ego when we gather and practice together. For the team, we are willing to sacrifice ourselves,” Lee Hyo-joo said.

They are now internationally recognized. In 2013, the trio won the award at Artsylvia Foundation, a representative chamber music competition in Korea. The trio earned the third place at the 2015 International Chamber Music Competition Franz Schubert with no first prize, which is the first case in Korea. “After the completion, we have grown a lot and become courageous," Lee Jung-ran said. "It’s not about ranking. It’s about experiences on the stage that nourished our performance skill."

As many of chamber music is in the form of quartet, it is not easy to see young trio chamber musician in Korea. “People think that the trio gets together for performance and soon go their separate ways," Lee Hyo-joo said. "But we are different. We have spent a decade together. We have stronger bond and our own color.” This is why they look forward to watching their work for another decade.