The Arnold Trio

A rare and surprising ensemble in the European musical landscape, the Arnold String Trio was founded in 2018 between Berlin and Paris.

The three brilliant versatile musicians and winners of prestigious international competitions, Shuichi Okada (Violin), Manuel Vioque-Judde (Viola) and Bumjun Kim (Cello) met in Switzerland at the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland, where they received guidance from Pamela Frank, Nobuko Imai, Sadao Harada and Seiji Ozawa. 

Individually, the three brilliant musicians are called upon to play on the greatest stages in France and the world, as soloists and chamber musicians: Victoria Hall in Geneva, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Philharmonie de Paris, Salle Pleyel, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Philharmonie de Berlin, Philharmonie de Liège, BOZAR in Brussels, Schloss Elmau, Matsumoto Harmony Hall or the Tanglewood Seiji Ozawa Hall… 

Greatly influenced by a decade at Seiji Ozawa’s prestigious international academy, the Arnold Trio has won acclaim for its constant quest for sonorous homogeneity and expressive power. 

The Arnold Trio’s first album, devoted to Ludwig van Beethoven’s three string trios Op. 9 (Mirare 2021), has already been a critical success, winning a “Diapason d’or” and a “Trophée Radio Classique”. 

Recognized as one of Europe’s most impressive young ensembles, the trio has already been heard on France Musique, Radio Classique, RTBF, BBC Radio 3 and broadcast live on ARTE Concert and Medici TV.

The Arnold Trio is in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris and at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Élisabeth. 

Works

JS Bach Goldberg Variations, version for string trio (selection)

The Goldberg Variations exemplify Johann Sebastian Bach’s art of counterpoint. Immortalized on the piano by Glenn Gould, they continue to fascinate today. Not only because of their complexity, but also because of the legend attached to them.

Bach was cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig when he wrote the Goldberg Variations.

He moved to Leipzig in 1723. Previously, he had been Kapellmeister to the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. He remained there until his death in 1750.

The cantor’s duties were onerous: Bach had to compose a cantata for every Sunday of the year, teach music to children who were often dissipated, and perform at weddings and funerals. Yet it was in Leipzig that he wrote most of his religious masterpieces: the Passions according to St. Matthew and St. John, the Magnificat, the Mass in B. Far from stopping there, Bach also composed instrumental music: the 2nd book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, numerous works for organ… and the Goldberg Variations.

Legend has it that the Goldberg Variations were commissioned to soothe the sleepless nights of a Russian count.

The Russian Count Hermann von Keyserling (ex-ambassador to the Electoral Court of Saxony) suffered from insomnia. To pass the time, he requests harpsichord music at night. The musician employed is a former pupil of Bach. His name is Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. According to legend, the Count commissioned Bach to perform this nocturnal ritual. He was so pleased with the result, in fact, that he paid for it with a gold goblet filled with a hundred louis. The variations for harpsichord would then have retained the name of their performer: “Goldberg Variations”.

Jean Cras, Trio à cordes (1926)

The string trio is demanding in terms of timbral homogeneity and harmonic constraints. Jean Cras seems well aware of the challenge: “I’d like to give the three instruments their full potential, to give the impression of fullness that is difficult to achieve with three bows. But by adapting the writing to the resources of the three instruments, we can considerably increase the effect produced, and it’s very interesting to build something with few means.” His Trio, composed from March 14 to June 14, 1926, aboard the cruiser Lamotte-Picquet moored in Lorient, was premiered on April 8, 1927 in Paris, Salle Érard, by its dedicatees Carmen Forté (violin), Pierre Brun (viola) and Louis Fournier (cello). As a whole, it gives a feeling of spontaneity, especially in the fast movements. The diversity of colors stems from the modal richness: consider the pentatonic and Lydian modes of the first allegro, and the polymodality of the second section of the slow movement. As in many of Cras’ works, dancing rhythms and the stylization of popular timbres (open fifths, melismas and vibrato-free playing at the beginning of the slow movement, reminiscent of the sound of a fiddle) are combined with the exploitation of counterpoint resources (the fugal entries in the gigue-like finale). There’s also a fine balance between climates, with the archaic lament of the slow movement providing a welcome contrast to the invigorating tonicity of the fast pieces.

Serge Taneïev String Trio E-flat Major, Op.31

Serge Taneïev (1856-1915) was a central figure in Russian musical life, initially a pupil and later a close friend of Tchaikovsky, and a teacher of Rachmaninov and Scriabin. Taneïev’s chamber music is among the most distinguished of his time, brilliantly conceived and revealing a masterly sense of form. A great teacher and professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he succeeded Pyotr Tchaikovsky and where Alexander Scriabin and Serge Rachmaninov were among his most illustrious pupils, Serge Taneïev, like his exact contemporary Alexander Liadov, belongs to the sacrificed generation of Russian music, the one making the transition between the Group of Five and major (and innovative) composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Serge Prokofiev.

The Musicians

Shuichi Okada Violinist

Born in Bordeaux in 1995, Shuichi began studying the violin at the age of five, and was unanimously accepted into Roland Daugareil’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris at the age of fifteen.

He has won numerous international competitions, giving him the opportunity to perform as soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre lyrique d’Avignon, the Orchestra of the Weimar Hochschule, the Orchestre symphonique de Nancy, the Orchestre de chambre Nouvelle Europe, the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, the Vogtland Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Normandie.

Shuichi is a regular guest at festivals such as Les vacances de Mr Haydn, Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, Moments musicaux de La Baule, Festival de Pâques de Deauville, Festival de Giverny, Festival Musique à Guéthary, and Festival du Palazetto Bru Zane, La folle Journée de Nante and Tokyo…

In 2017, he recorded his first sonata album with pianist Clément Lefebvre for the Mirare label, and in 2018 and 2019 will take part in the BRecord label’s complete chamber music of Johannes Brahms, as well as the recording of Franz Schubert and Raphael Merlin octets for the Alpha Classics label.

Shuichi is a member of the Arnold Trio in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac and a senior member of the Seiji Ozawa International Academy, and is supported by the Fondation Safran and the Fondation l’Or du Rhin.

Since 2019 Shuichi has been artist-in-residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth.

Manuel Vioque-Judde Violist

Born in 1991, Manuel Vioque-Judde is recognized as one of the most gifted and charismatic musicians of his generation.

Winner of numerous international competitions, he was rewarded at the two most prestigious, in 2014 in Los Angeles at the XIV Primrose Competition, then in 2016 at the XII Tertis Competition on the Isle of Man.

Among his major engagements as a soloist, he has collaborated in France with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe and the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire, in Venezuela with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, in the Czech Republic with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, in Germany with the Vogtland Philharmonic Orchestra and the Elbland Philharmonie Sachsen, in the USA with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, in Sweden with Camerata Nordica and in Belgium with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.

Manuel Vioque-Judde is also an accomplished chamber musician, whose chamber music partners include Claire Désert, Augustin Dumay, Jonathan Fournel, Nathanaël Gouin, Ilya Gringolts, Gary Hoffman and Victor Julien-Laferrière, Barnabás Kelemen, Suyoen Kim, Gidon Kremer, Alexandre Kantorow, Dmitri Masleev, Aurélien Pascal, Denis Pascal, Bruno Philippe, Alexandra Soumm, Christian Tetzlaff, the Wanderer Trio, the Arod Quartet, the Van Kuijk Quartet…

He performs on the greatest international stages, at La Folle Journée de Nantes, Kamermuziek Festival Amsterdam, Festival International de la Roque d’Anthéron, Festival de Verbier, Folle Journée Niigata, Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Festival de Pâques d’Aix en Provence, Tanglewood Music Festival, 5th Festival of Young European Soloists in Venezuela, Festival de Pâque de Deauville, Bozar Brussels, Philharmonie de Paris, Victoria Hall Geneva…

He began his musical education in Paris at the age of 5, learning the viola as well as intensive singing and piano practice, which enabled him to join the Radio France choir school at an early age. A pupil of Laurent Verney, he was unanimously awarded 1st prize at the Concours National des Jeunes Altistes at the age of 15. He then entered Jean Sulem’s class at the Paris Conservatoire. He went on to study with violists Antoine Tamestit, Tatjana Masurenko, Miguel Da Silva and Lawrence Power.

Manuel Vioque-Judde is Laureate of the Fondation Banque Populaire and Révélation Classique Adami 2017.

In 2019, he founded the Arnold Trio alongside Shuichi Okada and Bumjun Kim, whose first recording devoted to L.V.Beethoven’s String Trios Op. 9 was awarded a “diapason d’or” (Mirare 2021).

Artistic director of the Just Classik Festival in Troyes since 2018, he plays on a viola by German luthier Stephan von Baehr.

Bumjun Kim Cellist

Born in South Korea in 1994, Bumjun arrived in France at the age of 7 months. He studied with Xavier Gagnepain at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt, before entering Philippe Muller’s class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at the age of 15. He then continued his studies in Berlin with Troels Svane and in Paris with Jérôme Pernoo.

Winner of numerous international prizes, he is soon a guest at festivals in Europe and Asia. In 2011, he was a Jeune Talent at the Festival des Arcs, performing Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, live on France Musique.

During his final years at the Conservatoire, he performed as a soloist at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Seoul Art Center. Since then, he has performed on major international stages, including Geneva’s Victoria Hall, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in the USA.

As a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s renowned Karajan Academy, he has the privilege of playing alongside the greatest conductors of our time.

Bumjun leads an active life as a chamber musician, and is a senior member of the Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland.

In 2018, he founded the Arnold Trio in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac, and collaborates regularly with the Novus String Quartet.

He is a regular guest at festivals such as the Printemps des Arts festival in Monte-Carlo, the Août Musical and Easter festivals in Deauville, the Arcs festival and the Folles journées de Nantes, and since 2016 has been a laureate of the Adami, Safran, l’Or du Rhin and Banque Populaire foundations.