The Susato Trio is named after Tielman Susato, the 16th-century Antwerp-based composer who established the first music publishing house in the Low Countries. Like their namesake, the trio is passionate about sharing music with as wide an audience as possible. They aim to perform the established piano trio repertoire and hidden gems in the repertoire that have somehow been left behind in history.
The group was founded in May 2022 by violinist Sarah Bayens (Belgium), cellist Mikko Pablo (Philippines-USA), and pianist Markiyan Popil (Ukraine). In December 2022, they won 1st prize at the Generation Classique Competition organized by Les Festivals de Wallonie, in January 2024 they won 1st prize and the public’s prize at the Supernova Chamber Music Competition organized by the Klarafestival and in September 2024, they won 3rd prize and the special “Young Award” at the Premio Trio di Trieste International Competition in Italy.
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“The Susato Trio, first prize winner, made up of Sarah Bayens on violin, Mikko Pablo on cello and Markiyan Popil on piano, particularly impressed the Jury, first of all by their formidable cohesion and an already extremely broad and voluptuous sound. In Mozart's trio KV 548, as accomplished as it is flamboyant, their expressiveness, their passion, and their mastery of the text convinced all the professionals.”
Laurent Graulus, RTBF
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“The trio shaped the work uniquely. Especially the fourth movement - Theme and Variations, Andante Sostenuto - illustrated the high artistic level of the three instrumentalists, who fully exploited the possibilities of their instruments and documented an interplay that represented a singularity - and this after less than a year of the trio's existence... ...The three soloists then celebrated the heightening of musical demands in a remarkable interplay: piano, violin and cello dominated on the one hand in virtuoso solo passages, and then on the other hand all realized themselves at the same level of interpretation.”
Dieter Gömann, Neue Deister Zeitung
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“Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's D minor Trio began with a cello cantilena of impressive intimacy, which the violin countered with light, floating cantabile. From the piano then came the wilder passions. Sarah Bayens and Mikko Pablo made their dialogues hauntingly dense, but also gave them chatty lightness. The second movement was a variously toned "song without words", the third movement became the enchanting, yet powerfully dancing "Midsummer Night" scene full of radiant trio virtuosity.”
Günter Matysiak, Weser Kurier
Our Vision
Susato Trio is named after Tielman Susato, the 16th century Antwerp-based composer who established the first music publishing house in the Low Countries. Just like their namesake, the trio is passionate about sharing music with as wide of an audience as possible. They aim to perform not only the established piano trio repertoire, but also hidden gems in the repertoire which were seemingly lost in history. Such pieces are the piano trios of the Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu and the Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynskyi, both of which the trio performs and believes deserve to be included in the standard repertoire.
To make this vision a reality, Susato Trio collaborates with artists from other disciplines such as dance and the visual arts. An example of such a project is their recent collaboration with Canadian composer Adam Clarke and British Choreographer John William Watson to record the music for the dance piece “Hang in There Baby” which premiered on the main stage of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London to very positive reception. The trio also aims to further enrich the musical landscape with their own diverse cultural and musical heritage. One manifestation of this is the trio’s programmation of American composer Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music” for piano trio, which incorporates elements from styles such as early 20th century American, Viennese, light classical, gypsy, and Broadway. The future for the trio includes collaborations with composers from Belgium, Ukraine, the United States and the Philippines to introduce music from these cultures into the Belgian musical landscape, thereby adding to its richness and diversity.
