Lionel Monnet, piano
Julien Zufferey, violin
Xavier Pignat, cello
Praised by composer Henri Dutilleux as “an ensemble of the highest nobility”, Trio Nota Bene has become a major force on the international music scene over the years. After graduating with a virtuosity diploma in chamber music from the Lausanne Conservatoire, the group went on to perfect its skills in Paris with the Trio Wanderer and to study with Menahem Pressler of the Beaux-Arts Trio in New York, Shmuel Ashkenasi of the Vermeer Quartet, Christian Ivaldi, Claire Désert and Emmanuel Strosser.
In 2004, Trio Nota Bene was awarded 1st Prize at the Rotterdam International Chamber Music Competition. It went on to win the Prix Culturel d’Encouragement de l’Etat du Valais, the 1st Prize at the 28th Géraldine Whittaker Competition for Instrumental Trios in Neuchâtel, the Prix Philippe Chaignat for the quality of its performance at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Prix Zulawski-Ville de Chamonix.
The Trio Nota Bene performs regularly on international stages, including the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Festival International de la Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Zinettiadi in Verona, the Castres Festival, the Ljubljana International Festival and the D-Marin Festival in Bodrum, where the three artists appear as soloists in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto alongside the Dogus Symphony Orchestra. An Israeli tour also took the three musicians to Tel Aviv’s Recanati Hall, Jerusalem’s Music Center and Haifa’s Chamber Music Society. In the triple concerto repertoire, the Trio has collaborated with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra under Hannu Lintu.
Active in the field of contemporary music, Trio Nota Bene regularly premieres works by Swiss and foreign composers, including trios by Brazilian Roberto Sierra, Jean-Luc Darbellay, Gregorio Zanon and Alfred Zimmerlin.
The Trio regularly collaborates with renowned artists such as Renaud Capuçon, Shlomo Mintz, Pierre Amoyal, Nobuko Imai, Gérard Caussé, Blythe Engström, Ilya Gringolts and Shmuel Ashkenasi.
Trio Nota Bene records for the Swiss label Claves, distributed internationally.
