Jan. 5, 2021

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Alumni portrait 

Irene Enzlin in conversation with Iris Wagner

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Read the full article in German here.  

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Since the conductor and violinist Anton Kersjes founded the Kersjes Foundation in 1994 to support Dutch music life, this award has become the most important chamber music award of the Netherlands. With the prize money of 50,000 euros, the ensemble can record new CDs and videos, set up new projects and much more over the next three years.

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Congratulations on winning the Kersjesprijs 2020! What does this prize mean to you?
The prize really came at the perfect time. Our income this year was minimized due to Corona and now we can use the 50,000 euros for various new projects over the next three years. The prize is not a fee that we receive directly, but instead it allows us to finance, for example, CD recordings, videos and photoshoots. It helps us relax a little and implement things that we would otherwise not have been able to do. The financial pressure is gone and right now we have more time.

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CD productions are relatively expensive, correct?
Yes! It is probably not so well known that famous musicians often also have to pay for CD productions. You don't earn a lot with CD sales, nor from the increased streaming. It is more a form of promotion than a means of income. Of course, it's wonderful to do something like this and you learn an incredible amount through the process. For our last CD, which we made with Odradek, an American label, we were able to edit everything ourselves together with the sound engineer. We recorded for five days and then we were in the studio for three to four days and worked on the pieces with the sound engineer. That was really great.

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How did you fare in the last months, which were particularly difficult for culture? The next concerts are planned for January, right?
We had a few concerts in the summer, when things were briefly a bit better. Now some things have been canceled at short notice, which of course is difficult. You always have to be prepared and then it doesn't work out anyway. It's a little more relaxed in the Netherlands, where up to thirty people are still allowed to go to concerts. For chamber music this can still work, but a symphony orchestra already gets into trouble there. The January concerts are planned, but of course we are waiting to see how things evolve. A lot is still unclear. Concerts are planned in Switzerland for the end of February, but how the ski season, which is about to start again, will affect the situation, remains to be seen. We are definitely prepared and look forward to it. However, we are realistic and know that this can also be postponed or canceled. The livestreams were exciting, a concert is no longer just a ‘moment in time’ when it's online forever. A lot of new things develop and you learn a lot from them. On the other hand, you need time for large projects and we are now using this opportunity. With the financial help of the award we now have the means to make new CD recordings.

Can you describe the path from founding the ensemble to receiving the Kersjesprijs?
We founded the trio in Salzburg while studying at the Mozarteum University. Vera Kooper and I had been there for a while and then Gerard Spronk joined us. I think we started rehearsing in the Frohnburg Castle (the dormitory of the Mozarteum University) in his second week, it was a very intense time. Now, seven years later, we live in different cities, but it works well. Violinist Wolfgang Redik helped us a lot at the beginning, he even took us to Moscow for an exchange program. Coincidentally, we were playing exactly the right programme for a competition that we then took part in and won. That was our first common goal. Then we went on to take part in more competitions because we didn't yet have  many concerts, and we won several of those competitions too. This in turn resulted in more concerts. We were really lucky. The competitions helped enormously. On the one hand, because the prizes included concert invitations, on the other hand, due to the increased attention and being played on the radio etc. we would receive even more invitations. I then moved to Paris, Gerard went to Zurich after graduating and we spent a year or two in different countries. But we found each other again in Basel where we studied chamber music again. There we worked with violinist Rainer Schmidt, whom we already knew from the Mozarteum, and pianist Anton Kernjak. That was the perfect combination for us. We did a lot of tours in Asia and the USA and really tried to play as much as possible, even during our studies. Today we have an agency in the Netherlands, which is of course very helpful.

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How did you get concerts?
On the one hand we actively wrote to many concert organizers, and on the other hand some things just happened. But it has always been a lot of office work. We always tried to plan and combine concerts well, after concerts in China we played in South Korea for example. It's also nicer for us to have a few concerts in a row instead of traveling somewhere for just one performance. During a concert tour there is a development and it's just nice to be together longer and to play together more often. That way things always evolve. We were lucky too, of course. It is also important to talk to colleagues about how to get to concerts. You don't learn that at university. I'm the youngest of the trio and I was lucky that Vera already knew her way around. You also have to learn from others and be active. One cannot just sit and wait. We try to pass this on to younger colleagues. Prizes in competitions, a good résumé, good photos and recordings help enormously. We were on television and got some professional recordings on YouTube, which was also very helpful. There are always tours that don't go that smoothly. In China we once had the situation that the concerts of the first week were canceled at short notice. There was no contact person and we ended up stuck in a hotel a few kilometers outside of Shanghai for a week. I was really happy that there were three of us. We also complement each other very well in our skills. The path is not easy but very beautiful!
 

Dec. 4, 2020 

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The Delta Piano Trio wins the Kersjesprijs 2020!

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Since conductor and violinist Anton Kersjes founded the Kersjes Foundation in 1994 to support Dutch music life, this award has grown to be the most important chamber music prize in the Netherlands. The prize, worth €50,000, will be used for projects, recordings and career development over the next three years.

 

Previous laurates include the Osiris Trio, Storioni Trio, Matangi Quartet, Ruysdael Quartet, Van Baerle Trio, Dudok Quartet and the Amatis Trio. The festive award ceremony will take place in March 2021 at the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

 

A quote from the jury:

"The warm, sumptuous sound, the perfect balance and the compelling playing of the Delta Piano Trio took us by surprise. We are also impressed by the beautiful career that the trio has been able to realize at a young age. We would like to contribute substantially to their future".

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Aug. 8, 2020 

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Wonderful review for the Delta Piano Trio at the Davos Festival! Read the full article in German here.

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"Delta Piano Trio brilliert"

"Aufwühlend bis zur letzten Note"

"Die Interpretation dieses Werkes durch das Delta Piano Trio kennzeichnete eine Durchdringung, wie man sie nur selten im Konzertsaal hört. In allen Parametern perfekt aufeinander abgestimmt, nach allen Extremen greifend, um die hier in Noten gefasste Tragik in ihrer ganzen Bandbreite fühlen zu lassen, musizierten sie hinreißend und konfrontierten die Zuhörer ohne Rücksicht mit dieser Schmerz überladenen Musik."

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