The Trio

“Gentlemen! Should you perhaps not have noticed it yourselves, allow me hereby to disclose that poets and musicians are engaged in a most dangerous alliance against the public. Their aim is nothing less than to drive the spectator out of the real world, where he is, after all, quite comfortably at home, and […] to torment him with every possible emotion and passion—most detrimental to one’s health.”

E.T.A. Hoffmann (translated from the original German)

This warning by E.T.A. Hoffmann strikes at the very core of what draws us together as Trio E.T.A.: not merely to play music, but to dare a shared act of music-making that challenges both ourselves and our audience.
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For what is written on the page is only the beginning. The music itself comes into being in the space in between: between imagination and interpretation, between sound and listening. This is why E.T.A. Hoffmann has accompanied us as our namesake since our founding in 2019: as a boundary-crosser between the arts, between analysis and fantasy. His thinking inspires us, his humor is at times a source of comfort, and his versatility a model to aspire to.
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We began our trio work with Romantic repertoire and are equally drawn to artistic cross-connections as to the tension between classical and contemporary music, between familiar and unfamiliar works. With curiosity, we explore the musical cosmos of Haydn’s piano trios as well as, for example, the highly complex trio by composer Isabel Mundry, which we premiered in March 2025 at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.
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To continually renew the alliance between composers, performers, and audience—this lies at the heart of our work.

Numbers &
facts

Zahlen & Fakten

Awards & Prizes

The trio’s career was launched in 2021 with a First Prize at the German Music Competition. This was followed by the Special Prize of the Rotary Club Bonn and the Prize of Freunde junger Musiker Deutschland, the Walbusch Prize of Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland in 2022, and the Berenberg Culture Prize in 2023. Since 2023, the ensemble has been part of the multi-year support program “SWR Kultur New Talent” run by Südwestrundfunk (SWR Kultur).

Performances

Trio E.T.A. regularly performs at major concert venues such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Berlin, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Liederhalle Stuttgart. The ensemble has also appeared at renowned festivals including the Rheingau Music Festival, the Oberstdorf Music Summer, and the Schwetzingen Festival. In addition, the trio performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto together with the Baden-Baden Symphony Orchestra at the Weilburg Palace Concerts.

Recordings

The debut album of Trio E.T.A., featuring works by Joseph Haydn, Bedřich Smetana, and Roman Pawollek, was released in February 2023 on the Leipzig-based label GENUIN. A second album, with works by Johannes Brahms, César Franck, and Edvard Grieg, will be released in 2026 on SWR Music. In 2025, a recording of Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 100, was released on ARD Klassik.

Artistic influences

Trio E.T.A. receives artistic impulses from Dirk Mommertz, Eberhard Feltz, Angelika Merkle, Priya Mitchell, Christine Busch, Martin Funda, Hyung-ki Joo, and Reto Bieri.

"From the very first note, one thing was clear: half-heartedness is not this trio’s way. Founded in 2019, Trio E.T.A. offered far more than merely heartfelt, beautiful sound. Throughout, it captivated with technical agility, precise tone production, and impeccable ensemble playing."

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 May 2025 — English translation.

Members

Elene Meipariani

Violin

Magic

"What you call magic is merely a deeper understanding of the inner connection of things."

E.T.A. Hoffmann ("Der goldne Topf")

How magic comes into being often remains a mystery—and yet it follows an inner order.

For us as Trio E.T.A., this magic is the invisible connection between sound, expression, and form. Our ensemble playing is grounded in clear structures, yet what truly drives us is the search for a unity that cannot be forced.
When, in performance, mind and emotion, strings and piano, holding on and letting go come together—music becomes a realm of magic.

Bio

Elene Ansaia Meipariani was born in Filderstadt. She received her first violin lessons at the age of five with Christine Schneider. At the age of ten, …

Nadja Reich

Cello

In-Between

"It is precisely the uncertainty that lies in between in which the mind finds its freedom to play."

E.T.A. Hoffmann ("Die Elexiere des Feuers")

In music, what is essential often happens in the in-between—between the notes, the breaths, the voices.

As Trio E.T.A., we do not seek strong contrasts alone, but above all what connects them.
In this in-between space, piano and strings merge into a new, breathing sound. Here, boundaries become permeable, fluid, alive.
In this way, music becomes a space of limitless possibility.

Bio

Cellist Nadja Reich, born in Berlin, studied with Jens Peter Maintz at the Berlin University of the Arts and with Thomas Grossenbacher at the Zurich University of the Arts …

Till Hoffmann

Piano

Resonance

"Thus everything he spoke was not speech, but music—a sound that touched my innermost being and resounded within me."

E.T.A. Hoffmann ('Kreisleriana")

Chamber music does not arise from individuals side by side, but from the vibrations between them—from resonance.

between us as musicians, between the work and our present moment, between stage and audience. Our rehearsals are processes of listening, of openness, of shared experimentation. This is the utopian potential of resonance: that every impulse, every color, every idea sets something in motion in the other—and returns transformed.

Bio

Till Hoffmann was born in 1996 in Freiburg im Breisgau. He is a first-prize winner of numerous renowned competitions, including the piano competition “Ton & …”