The name TRIO CONTRASTE was inspired by Béla Bartók’s composition Contraste, one of the first works included in the group’s repertoire. At the moment, the ensemble includes flautist Ion Bogdan Ștefănescu, percussionist Doru Roman and pianist Sorin Petrescu. Each of the three musicians has an impressive solo career, but Trio’s track record is also remarkable. In 1986 they were granted the Romanian Composers’ Union Award, and in 1990 they were given a scholarship in Darmstadt – Germany.
The Contraste Trio participated in important music festivals: East-West Amsterdam Modern Music Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), Nueva Musica (Bogota, Colombia), Musicorama (Hong-Kong), Piano Plus Festival Bamberg (Germany), S. I. M. C. Bamberg, Time for New Music Bayreuth (Germany), Festival Lausanne (Switzerland), Oldenburger Kammermusik Festival, Gesellschaft für Neue Musik e.V. (Mannheim), Komponistinnen und Ihr Werk (Kassel), Piano Plus Festival, Culture Escapes (Basel, Switzerland), Music Fest (Luxembourg), George Enescu International Festival (Bucharest) and participation in several editions of the Timișoara Muzicală International Festival, Toamna Clujeană and Bucharest International New Music Week Festival.
The Contraste Trio also performed in: Berlin (Konzerthaus), Dortmundt (Konzerthaus), Münich (Gasteig and Orff Institut), Aachen (Klangbrücke), Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Vienna, Klagenfurt, Strasbourg, Krakow, Taipei, Beijing. Important Romanian composers, including Anatol Vieru, Aurel Stroe, Ştefan Niculescu, Nicolae Brânduş, Doina Rotaru, Octav Nemescu, Violeta Dinescu, Dan Dediu and George Balint have dedicated interesting works to the group, presented by them in premiere.
In recent years, through an honourable gesture of courtesy, Trio Contraste promotes young composers, the chamber ensemble’s music being immortalized through numerous DVDs, CDs and radio recordings. The trio’s repertoire also includes symphonic jazz works, symphonic dances, compositions of great popularity, musical jokes and others.