A B O U T
Trio Brontë is the 1st prize winner of the 2023 Ilmari Hannikainen International Piano Chamber Music Competition in Finland. Based in Berlin and consisting of Chiara Sannicandro (violin), Lili Bogdanova (piano), and Annie Jacobs-Perkins (cello), Trio Brontë is named after the Brontë sisters and inspired by their passion, intelligence, and companionship.
In March of 2023 Trio Brontë appeared as soloists for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia under the baton of Jan Söderblom. Their performance from this concert was featured on the Areena Broadcasting Company of Finland. Additional recordings of the trio have been broadcasted on Classic FM Bulgaria.
The trio champions works by lesser-known and female composers as well as works in the traditional canon. They recently gave the world premiere of Tuomas Turriago’s Panta Rhei, and in fall of 2023, Trio Brontë presented their interdisciplinary program “Un Jour,” sponsored by the Bulgarian “Culture Perspectives” Foundation focusing on works by Germaine Tailleferre, Mel Bonis, and Lili Boulanger in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Trio Brontë is pleased to be a Britten Pears Young Artist for the '24-'25 season, culminating in a two-week residency and performances at Snape Maltings. Additional concerts in '24-'25 will bring the trio to Germany, the Netherlands, England, and the United States.
Trio Brontë met at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler," where they currently study with pianist Jonathan Aner and have received additional coaching from Kolja Blacher, Troels Svane, and Eldar Nebolsin.
L I L I
Pianist Lili Bogdanova, named Young Musician of the Year by the Bulgarian National Radio in 2014, already looks back on an extensive concert career. She has performed worldwide as a soloist and given concerts in Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, USA and others. Recent performance highlights include Brahms First Piano Concerto and Beethoven Triple Concerto at the Metropolitan Theatre in Tokyo with the Mozart Virtuoso Orchestra, Clara Schumann Piano Concerto with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and a feature in the "Es Brahmst" Marathon at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Lili is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions including Strumenti e musica, Italy and Princess Lalla Meryem, Morocco. In 2014 she released her debut CD with works by Claude Debussy and César Franck. She has played live on Deutschlandfunk Kulturradio and Rbb Kulturradio in Germany. She has received support from the American Foundation in Bulgaria, Foundation Clavarte, Deutschlandstipendium, the Ottilie Selbach Redslob Foundation and the Lucia Loeser Foundation. Since 2019 Lili has been a scholarship holder of the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now, Berlin. Lili is also an avid chamber musician, performing regularly with multiple ensembles including her piano trios “Brontë” and “Ilios”. Lili studied in Bulgaria with Emilia Kaneva and Borislava Taneva, in Italy with Daniele Petralia and at the Sibelius Academy in Finland with Tuija Hakkila. Currently she is Eldar Nebolsin’s student at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. Another important mentor for Lili is Alan Fraser.
A N N I E
Praised for anything from “hypnotic lyricism, causing listeners to forget where they were for a moment” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker) to "delightfully pluck[ing] and slapp[ing] her cello like a rockabilly upright bassist" (The Democrat and Chronicle), cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins is known for “eras[ing] all kinds of boundaries” (USC Thornton School of Music) with her music.
Annie is the recent winner of the 2023 Pierre Fournier Award. In the coming seasons she will present a recital in Wigmore Hall, perform as soloist with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and record a debut album on the Champs Hill label. Annie is also 1st prize winner of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs Emerging Soloist Competition, New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, Thornton School Solo Bach Competition, and Hennings-Fischer Young Artist Competition. She is Artist-in-Residence of the Austin Chamber Music Center (‘23-’26) and the EstOvest Festival Contemporary Cello Week (2023). In 2021 she was also chosen to be Young-Artist-in-Residence at NPR’s Performance Today.
Annie is principal cellist of Joshua Weilerstein’s Phoenix Chamber Orchestra in Boston and cellist of Trio Brontë, 1st prize winners of the 2023 Ilmari Hannikainen International Piano Chamber Music Competition in Finland. She has performed at venues such as the Library of Congress, Het Concertgebouw, Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Berliner Philharmonie, Marlboro Music (summer 2024), Ravinia Steans Institute, Krzyzowa Music, Yellow Barn Festival, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest.
Annie was a 2018 Outstanding Graduate and Trustee Scholar of USC’s Thornton School of Music (BM). She was the recipient of the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship from NEC (MM ‘20, GD ‘21), and received an additional Masters degree with Highest Distinction from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. She is now an Artist Diploma Candidate at the Barenboim-Said Akademie. Annie’s teachers include Frans Helmerson, Troels Svane, Laurence Lesser, Ralph Kirshbaum, Kathleen Murphy Kemp, and Guy Fishman.
C H I A R A
German-Italian violinist Chiara Sannicandro was born in 1997 in Salzburg into a family of musicians and began learning the violin at the age of five. At the age of nine she was accepted as a young student at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, where she studied with Klara Flieder until the end of her school years.
Chiara Sannicandro's immense musical talent was already noticeable during her school years. She won numerous prizes at national youth competitions and performed at the famous Sala Verdi in Milan as the winner and audience prize-winner of the "Young Talents with Orchestra" Barlassina competition. She also performed successfully as a soloist at the Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg.
After graduating from high school, Chiara Sannicandro went to the USA, where she completed her Bachelor's degree at the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington/Indiana with Mauricio Fuks with High Distinction. After studying with Rainer Schmidt at the Musik Akademie Basel, she is currently studying with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.
Through participation in numerous chamber music projects and in master classes at the Kronberg Academy as well as with Mihaela Martin, Ani Kavafian, Tanja Becker-Bender, Augustin Hadelich, Leonidas Kavakos, the young violinist received further important musical impulses for her career.
Chiara Sannicandro is a scholarship holder and winner of numerous international prizes. In 2020 she convinced the audience by winning the 2nd prize and the audience prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition
in Pörtschach as well as the prize at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition New York.
Her most recent musical success to date is the award as Laureate and winner of the Audience Prize at the renowned international Joseph Joachim Violin Competition 2021 in Hanover.
Chiara Sannicandro has already appeared as a soloist in concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Romania and Portugal as well as in the USA and Canada. This year she can be heard for the first time at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and with the Kammerakademie Potsdam.
Chiara Sannicandro is also an enthusiastic chamber music and orchestral musician and loves the interplay with other art forms.
Her participation in the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, her work as concertmaster of the Indiana University Chamber Orchestra and her regular participation in the Camerata Salzburg underscore the young violinist's multifaceted musical activities and passions.
Chiara Sannicandro plays a violin by Matteo Goffriller Venezia 1723 on generous loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.