Biography

Lauded as “one of America’s finest young chamber groups” Strad Magazine, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their "aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance" (Palm Beach Daily News).

In 2022 the Claremont Trio released Queen of Hearts, an album of music composed especially for the trio by six of today’s leading composers – Gabriela Lena Frank, Sean Shepherd, Judd Greenstein, Helen Grime, Nico Muhly and Kati Agócs. Highlights of their 2022-23 season include return engagements at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, New York’s Music Mondays, and the Polinger Artists of Excellence Series at the Bender JCC of Greater Washington.  They will also debut at the Blue Hill Concert Association (ME) and perform at Concerts at the Point (MA) and Broward College (FL). 

During the past season, the Claremont Trio performed for Portland Friends of Chamber Music, the Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, and recorded and performed Eric Sawyer's triple concerto and John Harbison's double concerto with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.  Other recent engagements include Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Boston’s Celebrity Series, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series, Pasadena’s Coleman Chamber Music Association, Johns Hopkins University, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, Stanford Lively Arts, Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, along with the Chamber Music Societies of Phoenix, Dallas, Sedona, San Antonio, Buffalo, and the Universities of Washington, Wisconsin, and Missouri. The Trio has performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with orchestras such as the Nashville Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and Utah Symphony. The group also appears regularly at festivals including Ravinia, Saratoga, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Skaneateles, Rockport, Bard, and Norfolk.

American Modern Recordings released the Claremont Trio’s recording of Robert Paterson’s works, including Claremont Trio commission “Moon Trio”, in December of 2016. Gramophone magazine praised the Trio’s “poetry and… thrilling virtuosity” in their Beethoven “Triple” Concerto with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, recently released on Bridge Records. Of their Beethoven & Ravel CD, one reviewer raved “These are some of the most impassioned, moving, and notable readings of these favorites that I have ever heard, bar none.” (Audiophile Audition). Their discography also includes Mendelssohn Trios, Shostakovich and Arensky Trios, and American Trios with works by Leon Kirchner, Ellen Zwilich, Paul Schoenfield, and Mason Bates. A collaborative disc with clarinetist Jonathan Cohler garnered a glowing review in Fanfare magazine and received a Critic’s CHOICE award from BBC Magazine.

In addition to the works on their newest CD, the Claremont Trio has also commissioned new trios by Donald Crockett, Robert Paterson, Paul Chihara, Sharon Farber, Howard Frazin, Daniel Kellogg, and Hillary Zipper. They have conducted master classes at the Columbia University, Eastman School of Music, Duke University, New England Conservatory Preparatory Division, Peabody Conservatory’s Preparatory Division, and the Boston Conservatory.  

The Claremont Trio was formed in 1999 at the Juilliard School. Twin sisters Emily Bruskin and Julia Bruskin grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and they both play old French instruments. Emily's violin is a Lupot from 1795; Julia's cello is a J.B. Vuillaume from 1849. Sophiko Simsive grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Claremonts are all now based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.