The Amatis Trio was founded in Amsterdam in 2014 by German violinist Lea Hausmann, British cellist Samuel Shepherd, and Dutch/Chinese pianist Mengjie Han. The three musicians met in Amsterdam, and have performed together in 34 countries around the world.
Only weeks after its inception, the trio won the Audience Prize at the Grachtenfestival-Concours at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and First Prize at the International Parkhouse Award at Wigmore Hall in London, both venues that now invite them as regular artists, and to which they returned for their 2018/19 season as ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) Rising Stars.
From 2016 to 2018, the Amatis Trio were selected by BBC Radio 3 to join the BBC New Generation Artists scheme; in 2018 they were invited to participate in the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland.
It has emerged as one of the leading piano trios of the new generation.
Their commitment to new music, to education projects, and to the bringing of western music to less exposed audiences has most recently led the trio to undertake performance tours in Indonesia and India, and to teach masterclasses in Jakarta, Bandung, Mumbai, and Pune.
Summer 2019 saw the Amatis Trio make their BBC Proms debut and perform as soloists in the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Jamie Phillips at the 2019 Kings Lynn Festival. They made their 2019 Edinburgh International Festival debut in a programme entitled Amatis Trio and Friends, where they invited two other members of the BBC NGA scheme to perform with them. Both this concert and the BBC Proms appearance were broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
2019/20 sees the trio perform in Europe’s major concert halls including Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Cologne, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris and a debut tours of Sweden of Turkey. In addition they have been appointed Artist in Residence at both Cambridge University, UK and the University of Toronto, Canada.
The Amatis Trio’s commitment to contemporary music led to the foundation in 2015 of the Dutch Piano Trio Composition Prize, aimed at encouraging young composers to expand the piano trio repertoire.
The trio has since commissioned and premiered 15 contemporary pieces, most recently Moorlands, a piano trio work by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi.
Since 2015 the trio has worked intensely with Wolfgang Redik (Vienna Piano Trio) and Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet). Other important musical influences include Lukas Hagen, Hatto Beyerle, the Trio Jean Paul, Fabio Bidini, Ilya Grubert, Anner Bylsma, Ivry Gitlis, Christian Schuster, Ib Hausmann, Imre Rohmann, Menahem Pressler, and Sir András Schiff.
Other prizewinning accolades include the most outstanding chamber music prize of the Netherlands, the Kersjesprijs 2018; the 2018 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the 2015 International Parkhouse Competition at Wigmore Hall, the International Joseph Joachim Competition in Weimar, Germany, as well as their nomination for the Dutch Classical Talent Award in 2015/2016.