Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio was among the top chamber groups of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Coming together in 1977, the group appeared internationally and was active well into the 2010s.

The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio consisted of pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist <a href="spotify:artist:3f6FlxZfcsNeOZCXgbp1yW">Jaime Laredo</a>, and cellist <a href="spotify:artist:2xwFN8G63KBY2cTssXZH0s">Sharon Robinson</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:3f6FlxZfcsNeOZCXgbp1yW">Laredo</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2xwFN8G63KBY2cTssXZH0s">Robinson</a> performed and recorded together several times in the early and middle 1970s. They married in 1977, and that year, the trio was formed for an appearance at the inauguration of U.S. President <a href="spotify:artist:5Y6CuiLP9R11N46JkwoPWX">Jimmy Carter</a>. Liking what they heard, they continued to perform together and formally took the name Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio in 1981. One of the group's early recordings came in 1990: for the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chandos%22">Chandos</a> label, the trio recorded Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Op. 56, with the <a href="spotify:artist:2DO4p3CPDnInsJfg0jFfaF">English Chamber Orchestra</a> under <a href="spotify:artist:2NU4IyriqgF3r66XpV4x2N">Alexander Gibson</a>.

That was the first of what became a catalog of some 20 recordings made for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Vox%22">Vox</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Arabesque%22">Arabesque</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Koch+International%22">Koch International</a>, and several other labels. The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio recorded much of the traditional piano trio repertory, including complete cycles of the trios of Beethoven, <a href="spotify:artist:5wTAi7QkpP6kp8a54lmTOq">Brahms</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6s1pCNXcbdtQJlsnM1hRIA">Shostakovich</a>. The group championed contemporary music in performance, and in 1996, the trio recorded Legacies, an album of trios by <a href="spotify:artist:0stx4BaQkpiTJW7GQZe17I">Ellen Taaffe Zwilich</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5bFWsYW2sJRphG2q0kLhWI">Leon Kirchner</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2TvPBulHtfwAkQUDyc7JQW">Stanley Silverman</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2P6ygesd9xg5DPOBnda2jg">Arvo Pärt</a> (the arrangement of <a href="spotify:artist:4NJhFmfw43RLBLjQvxDuRS">Mozart</a>'s Adagio and Fugue for trio, K. 546). The Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio toured internationally and was especially visible at festivals, including Tanglewood in Massachusetts. The trio appeared at the Centennial Series mounted by Carnegie Hall in New York and at Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. The group was named Ensemble of the Year by the magazine Musical America in 2001, and for the 2003-2004 season, it was ensemble-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The trio remained active into the 2010s, issuing a recording of Schubert's trios and arpeggione sonata on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bridge%22">Bridge</a> label in 2011. Pianist Kalichstein died in 2022, at age 76. ~ James Manheim, Rovi