Trio E.T.A Wins 2023 Berenberg Culture Prize 

The Hamburg-based annual prize for exceptional young artists is endowed with a €12,000 cash award 

The Berenberg Culture Prize has been awarded annually since 1990 by the Berenberg Bank Foundation to artists studying or working in Hamburg. The prize has so far provided numerous artists with around €1 million.

Trio E.T.A was presented the 2023 prize at a ceremony held at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Founded in 2019, the piano trio comprises violinist Elene Meipariani, cellist Till Schuler, and pianist Till Hoffmann.

According to Foundation board member Jan Philipp Sprick, the group was awarded for convincing “the audience with virtuosic interaction, subtle design of the chamber music tones, and intelligent interpretations.”

The trio is winner of the 2021 German Music Competition, the Walbusch Prize, and recipient of awards at the Rotary Club Bonn, the Friends of Young Musicians Germany, the TONALi Competition, and the Janigro Competition. It has also been selected as SWR2 New Talent with a broadcaster, and will be promoted across three years with program contributions, concerts, and CD productions.

During the 2021/22 season, Trio E.T.A made its debut at the Konzerthaus Berlin, European Cultural Forum Mainau, Beethovenhaus Bonn, Weingartner Musiktage, and Weilburg Palace Concerts, plus has performed with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and Mariinsky Orchestra at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Elbphilharmonie, and Mariinsky Theater.

In February 2023, the trio’s debut album was released with works by Haydn, Smetana, and Roman Pawollek. Additionally, composer Isabel Mundry is writing a work for the trio, which will be premiered this year. 

Named for writer, composer, and critic E. T. A. Hoffmann, the trio is funded by the Jeunesses Musicales International Chamber Music Campus, the German National Academic Foundation, and is supported by Dirk Mommertz, Eberhard Feltz, Priya Mitchell, and Niklas Schmidt. 

“Berenberg has been committed to culture in Hamburg for a long time,” said Hans-Walter Peters, board chair of the bank and its Foundation. “It is particularly important to us to promote young artists in order to further strengthen Hamburg's reputation as a cultural metropolis.”

The Berenberg Culture Prize also promotes artist development through grants and project funding. The Foundation’s 2023 scholarships were awarded to the vocal ensemble Vocoder, comprising students from the Hamburg University of Music and Performing Arts, plus German-Iranian guitarist Milad Darvish Ghane and artist Marie Pietsch.