Z.E.N Trio

The Z.E.N. Trio - pianist Zee Zee, violinist Esther Yoo, and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan - came together as BBC New Generation Artists in 2015 and have since established themselves as one of the most compelling piano trios.

Limelight Magazine praised “as individual artists, each of the three was magnificent.  As a trio they were transcendent.” They have performed for BBC Radio and appeared extensively across Europe, China, Canada, the United States and Australia, earning enthusiastic audience responses and critical acclaim.

Concert highlights include performances at Wigmore Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Prague Spring Festival and at the Aspen Music Festival. The trio recently undertook a six-city North American tour with performances in San Francisco, Vancouver, Santa Barbara, Boston, Washington, and Miami, for presenters including the Phillips Collection, Harvard Musical Association, and the Vancouver Recital Society. In 2022, the Z.E.N. Trio became the first international ensemble to tour Australia following the reopening of borders, presenting a ten-concert tour for Musica Viva across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, and Tasmania.

Their discography on Deutsche Grammophon includes a debut album of Brahms and Dvořák Piano Trios (2017), followed by Burning Through the Cold (2020), featuring works by Shostakovich, Babajanian, Rachmaninov, and Khachaturian which was hailed in The Telegraph as one of the best classical CDs of 2021.

While “Z.E.N.” is formed from the musicians’ initials, it also reflects their artistic philosophy and their approach to music making: the forgoing of the self for total togetherness.