The Busch Trio return to Chichester Chamber Concerts series

They will be in concert on Thursday, November 7 at 7.30pm in The Assembly Room in the Chichester Council House in North Street (tickets from the CFT).

Omri Epstein (piano) and his brother Ori Epstein (cello) will be joined by Mathieu van Bellen (violin) for a programme comprising Schubert – Sonatensatz D 28; Shostakovich – Trio 2 in E minor; and Beethoven – Trio in B flat Op 97 Archduke.

“We have got good memories of Chichester,” Omri says. “We were very happy with the positive approach.

“We remember being very well taken care of! All the little things make a difference, an attentive audience, a good acoustic and a good back-stage area for us. We couldn’t have asked for more.”

The trio have been together as The Busch Trio for seven years now, starting out in the UK.

Omri and his brother were born in Israel and Mathieu is Dutch, but it was in England that the trio was born.

“Ori was studying in Switzerland at the time, but he was summoned back accordingly!

“We won a few competitions in the UK, and that got us our breakthrough.

“We developed for four years in the UK and then we lived in Brussels for three years where we had a residency at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and we moved to Amsterdam a year ago.

“We are all living in the same city and we make the trio the most important adventure in our lives.

“It is about family and friends and music.

“We have the kind of commitment to the trio that goes beyond what professional musicians would usually expect or look for.

“We play 80 or 90 concerts a year and we rehearse and the rest of the time we go on holidays together a lot.

“It all holds it together.”

Omri believes this is what singles the trio out from other trios around.

“Many people start a trio or a string quartet and they put in a lot of energy and enthusiasm and passion.

“But then suddenly reality bites when they leave the musical institution where they are studying and they lose their protective environment and they have to make ends meet.

“They have to think about other adventures and that erodes the sense of investment and dedication and commitment to the chamber group.

“But we are family and friends, each other’s best friends, and for us it is about how committed and dedicated we are to the trio and to wanting to promote this combination.

“For a lot of people it will actually happen at the age of around 60 or beyond because the reality can be tough, but we are in the position where our absolute dedication means we have already been able to achieve a great deal.

“Having started in the UK gave us an incredible springboard to build up our repertoire and our experience and our quality.

“The UK is particularly good in the way the music societies are very, very dedicated and passionate people.

“You feel when you get on the stage that you are very appreciated, and that is very important when you are young and trying to build up your confidence.

“But then once you get to the continent, the market is much more advanced in terms of fees and venues and audiences.

“Once we got to Brussels, we had a record contract, and we are now able to play the bigger venues and festivals.

“They are quite daunting challenges that we have to face, but we feel we are absolutely ready to face them because of our initial years that we had in England.”

Tickets for the concert are available from Chichester Festival Theatre online or by phone.

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