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The members of Trio Con Brio like to say there are times two plus two can equal three.
The Denmark-based piano trio includes two tight-knit pairs: Korean violinist Soo-Jin Hong and cellist Soo-Kyung Hong, sisters who have performed together since childhood; and married couple Soo-Kyung Hong and Jens Elvekjaer, who came together as a cello-and-piano duo.
In 1999, the duos merged in Vienna to become Trio Con Brio, blending cultures and family ties with a shared love of chamber music. The group is now based in Copenhagen.
Before their Utah concert as the opener for the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City series, the musicians talked about their connections.
"We have connections — family bonds — and that creates musical understanding," said Elvekjaer, the trio's pianist. "We are so closely connected that in rehearsals we can be very open and express ourselves freely. There is a lot of joy in performing and traveling together."
Trio Con Brio won acclaim for a 2009 performance on the series, and Elvekjaer is equally pleased to be returning. Playing in Libby Gardner Hall was a particular pleasure, he said, and he enjoyed meeting a fellow Dane while here, violinist Hasse Borup of the University of Utah music faculty.
Carter Foss, chairman of CMS/SLC's talent committee, is eager to hear Trio Con Brio play Haydn's "Gypsy" Quartet, which includes a lively Gypsy rondo as its third movement.
"It's an entertainment piece," Elvekjaer said, "and we try to play the folkloristic part so that you feel the Gypsy tone in the music — we play it rather freely."
All of the trios on Trio Con Brio's program were influenced by regional folk traditions that were important to their composers, Elvekjaer said. Haydn spent much of his life at the Esterházy Palace near Austria's border with Hungary, where his patrons also employed Gypsy musicians.
It's no surprise that Ravel, whose Trio in A Minor will be performed, incorporated a Basque tune in the work. He was deeply influenced by the Basque heritage of his mother.
"It's a colorful work in its inspiration and its orchestration," Elvekjaer said. "The way Ravel uses the piano trio to get so many orchestral colors makes it fascinating and interesting to play."
Long landscapes, fantastic melodies, Russian folk tunes and virtuoso playing by all three artists make Tchaikovsky's A Minor Trio a great closer for the program, Elvekjaer said.
Foss said the rest of the CMS/SLC season is just as promising.
The Pacifica Quartet, which The New York Times calls "one of the fastest-rising ensembles today," returns to the series Jan. 8, having played in Salt Lake City shortly after it was formed. The Talich Quartet, a Czech ensemble, makes a highly awaited return, having been "as popular with our audience as any group we've ever had," Foss said. The Fauré Piano Quartet, which many consider the best of its genre, performs in March.
Also returning is the Pavel Hass Quartet, which won Gramophone magazine's 2011 Recording of the Year award — the classical-music world's equivalent of the Oscar. By special request of the talent committee, the group will perform Smetana's Quartet No. 1, "From My Life," and Schubert's Quartet in D minor, "Death and the Maiden," on its April 24 program.
The esteemed Fauré Piano Quartet appears in February; appearances by the Doric Quartet, from England, and Modigliani Quartet, from France, complete the season.
"Chamber music is something you can hear seven days a week," Foss said. "And we get the world's best."
1 and 1 and 1 is 3
P The Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City opens its 2011-12 season with a concert by Trio Con Brio.
When • Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
Where • Libby Gardner Concert Hall, 1375 E. Presidents Circle, Salt Lake City.
Tickets • $25; $5 for students with ID. For information, call 801-561-3999 or visit cmsofslc.org.
Also • Master class with University of Utah student musicians, Monday, Oct. 17, at 1 p.m. in Gardner Hall's Dumke Recital Hall; free and open to the public.