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
