The Gould Piano Trio, directly compared to the great Beaux Arts Trio for their ‘musical fire’ and ‘dedication to the genre’ in the Washington Post, have remained at the forefront of the international chamber music scene for a quarter of a century. Launched by their first prize at the Melbourne Chamber Music Competition, they were ‘ECHO Rising Stars’, making a highly successful debut at the Weill Recital Hall in New York’s Carnegie Hall, and described by The Strad magazine as ‘Pure Gould’.

Their many appearances at London’s Wigmore Hall have included the complete piano trios of Dvorak, Mendelssohn and Schubert – plus in the 2017–18 season, a Beethoven cycle, to celebrate twenty-five years since their first appearance at this iconic venue.

Commissioning and performing new works is an important part of the trio’s philosophy of staying creative and freshly inspired. Sir James MacMillan’s second Piano Trio was written for them in 2014 and premiered at the Bath International Festival that season. 2017 featured the Goulds in the Hull ‘City of Culture’ celebration, performing former BBC Young Musician, Mark Simpson’s After Avedon as part of the PRS ‘New Music Biennial’.

The annual Corbridge Chamber Music Festival, presented by the trio together with clarinetist Robert Plane, celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a commission from Huw Watkins – his Four Fables. It is scored for clarinet and piano trio, an instrumentation made famous by Messiaen in his Quartet for the End of Time which also forms part of their discography with Plane.

The Gould Trio’s extensive tours of North America, the Far East, New Zealand, and Europe are interspersed with masterclasses to nurture the next generation, at institutions such as the Guildhall School in London, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Snape and Dartington Summer School.

In addition to their highly praised recordings of the standard works, the trio have thrown light on neglected gems from the late romantic British repertoire with recordings for Naxos and Chandos, including C.V. Stanford’s and John Ireland’s piano trios, plus works by Bax, Milford, York Bowen and Cyril Scott. Just released is a recording entitled Stolen Airs of music by Northumbrian composer John Casken, including his piano trio and Shadowed Pieces for violin and piano.