Gryphon Trio: A Canadian chamber music treasure

In the world of chamber music, the Toronto-based Gryphon Trio is a rare find. Formed in 1993 and named after the mythical half-eagle, half-lion creature that is reputed to be the guardian of treasures, the trio has garnered superlative accolades for its live performances.

Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker "have a wide reputation for brilliant interpretations," said a reviewer recently with the Toronto Star, which hailed the three musicians as approaching "national treasure status."

They have been called one of Canada's "premier chamber groups" by The Washington Post, and saluted for their "beautiful sound, superb ensemble and the highest order of musical sensitivity" by the Ottawa Citizen, which said, "there is not...a better chamber ensemble in Canada."

In 2004, the glowing tributes extended into awards for the group. At the fourth annual Canadian Independent Music Awards, the Gryphon Trio was named Favourite Classical Artist / Group. And following two previous nominations, the ensemble finally took home the prize at this year's Juno Awards in Edmonton for Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble, for Canadian Premières, a recording of commissioned works by Canadian composers Kelly-Marie Murphy, Ka Nin Chan, Christos Hatzis and Gary Kulesha.

With five recordings for the Montreal-based label Analekta under their belt, and amid a hectic global touring schedule, Patipatanakoon, Borys and Parker have also commissioned more than 20 works and created special performances, including shows that highlight the works of Beethoven, Ravel and Bach.

Another production, entitled, ...and the masks evoke..., fuses the Aboriginal spirit and majesty of British Columbia and the Haida from the Gwaii Haanas region with the music of Hong Kong-born, Juno Award-winning composer Ka Nin Chan to create a hauntingly beautiful multimedia piece.

Their latest and most ambitious project to date, a 90-minute East-meets-West mystical mosaic entitled Constantinople, will be premiered at the Banff Summer Arts Festival in July 2004 before commencing a world tour. Conceived by Toronto-based Christos Hatzis, Constantinople will also feature Cairo-born, Arabic vocalist Maryem Tollar and Ontario-born soprano Patricia O'Callaghan, along with live and recorded music, cinematic visuals, theatrical staging and technology (replacing sheet music with a MusicPad Pro touch-screen device). It is, in the words of the Gryphons, "a fully integrated work of music theatre."

Resident ensemble at the Music TORONTO chamber music series, the Gryphon
Trio extends their passion to education. Patipatanakoon and Borys, who are life partners and were faculty members of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, along with Parker teach at the University of Toronto's faculty of music. Parker, who holds a doctorate in music from the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City and who taught in the music faculty of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., is the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance at the U of T.

The trio also collaborate with about 30 students at Toronto's Claude Watson Arts High School as part of a young composers program supported by the Ontario Arts Council.
Each member of the Trio has also received funding from the Canada Council. Patipatanakoon and Borys performed on fine stringed instruments on loan for three years (2000-03) from the Council's Musical Instrument Bank: the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin and the 1824 McConnell Gagliano cello.

Funding from arts councils is essential, says Patipatanakoon, “if chamber music is to get to places like Thompson, Manitoba … this country is so large.”

- Christopher Guly