The Astatine Trio (piano, violin, cello)

The Astatine Trio bring piano, violin and cello to Cowdray Hall at the Aberdeen Art Gallery on Thursday 19 November. It's a lunchtime concert, running from 12.45pm to 1.45pm, and it's being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

The programme brings together two contrasting piano trios. They'll open with Haydn's Piano Trio in A flat Hob XV:14, which runs about 22 minutes, followed by Brahms' Piano Trio no.1 in B major Op.8, a longer work that takes around 37 minutes. Between the two, you'll get nearly an hour of music across the course of the hour.

If you haven't come across them before, the Astatine Trio is a young ensemble that's been picking up some serious momentum. They're BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists for 2025-27, and in 2025 they took second prize and a special prize at the Franz Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz — the first UK-based ensemble to win a main prize in that competition's history. They were also named Britten Pears Young Artists for 2023-24.

Their development has been closely tied to some big names in the field. Alfred Brendel began mentoring them in 2022, and he once described them as 'among the finest [trios], properly balanced and with a delightful twist of its own'. These days they're mentored by Anthony Marwood MBE through ChamberStudio London. They're also current Hans Keller Chamber Fellows at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and they'll be a resident ensemble at ProQuartet in Paris from 2025 to 2027.

The concert is part of soundfestival 2026, and the ticket is pay what you can, so you can chip in what you're comfortable with. It runs from 12.45pm to 1.45pm at Cowdray Hall, inside the Aberdeen Art Gallery.