Amatis Piano Trio

The Amatis Trio was founded in Amsterdam in 2014 and is now based in Salzburg, Austria. German violinist Lea Hausmann, British cellist Samuel Shepherd and Dutch pianist Mengjie Han are celebrated for their energy, insight, creativity, communication and passion. The trio is regarded as one of the leading ensembles of its generation.

The trio has performed in 43 countries across five continents and has won many major international competitions and awards. They are former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and were selected as ECHO Rising Stars (European Concert Hall Organisation) by Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Köln Philharmonie, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and Dortmund Konzerthaus. The trio has been awarded some of the most prestigious music prizes from around the world, including the Kersjesprijs of the Netherlands and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship award.

In addition to performances at many of the world’s leading festivals including the BBC Proms, Verbier Festival, Switzerland and the Edinburgh International Festival, the trio are regularly invited as soloists in triple concerto repertoire, appearing with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, BBCNOW and Frankfurt Museums Orchestra. They are currently Artists in Residence at Cambridge University and appointees of the Irene R Miller Piano Trio Residency at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Their strong commitment to contemporary music led the trio to form the ‘Dutch Piano Trio Composition Prize’, aimed at encouraging young composers to expand the piano trio repertoire. Since its inception they have commissioned and premiered 15 contemporary pieces, most recently Moorlands, a work by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi.

Both Lea and Sam play on very fine Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume instruments kindly loaned by generous patrons through the Beares International Violin Society.