Trio Timia is a piano trio at the Schulich School of Music, where they are coached by renowned violinist, Professor Violaine Melan莽on. The trio is comprised of Jueun Lee (violin), Fran莽ois Lamontagne (cello), and Itamar Prag (piano).聽The ensemble recently won the Bronze medal at the 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition 鈥� one of the most prestigious competitions of its kind. Known for their expressive performances, Trio Timia frequently performs in both formal and educational settings across Montreal.聽聽
鈥淚ndividually, they are our very best.鈥� says Melan莽on. 鈥淭hey have played together in various combinations for years, and are extremely gifted soloists and chamber musicians. They are very devoted to their work as a trio and ambitious about its future and I, for one, think that this group has a lot of promise to go very far.鈥澛�
In this In Conversation, Trio Timia reflects on preparing for Fischoff, offers advice for young chamber groups, and shares highlights from their time at the Schulich School of Music.聽
What were your expectations going into this competition?聽
To be honest, we didn鈥檛 expect much going into the competition, since we鈥檙e a relatively new trio and we only started learning all the repertoire in January. Our main goal was to challenge ourselves: to learn pieces quickly and to find a way to unify three individual voices into one cohesive interpretation. We also wanted to share our music and gain more public exposure as a trio, while seeing how well we could prepare the program under time pressure.聽
How did you go about selecting your repertoire?聽
It is often a mix between pieces that we want to play or feel a deep connection to and what pieces are usually asked in competition. As our trio is still in early development, we also aim to choose repertoire that will teach us the many layers of trio playing! In summary, it would be in that order: 1. What do we love 2. What will make us progress, and 3. What will be good in a competition.聽
You鈥檝e only been together as a group for one year. What part of your preparation process do you think helped you the most?聽
We would say score studying, personal practice, and playing for people are the best ways of preparing for a competition. Score studying saves so much time in rehearsals and the personal practice makes you ready to 鈥榮witch gears鈥� very easily if you want to try a new musical idea or phrasing on the spot with your band mates. Playing often for people in public is good because it gives you more chances to learn how your brain is reacting in performance mode and catch the weaker spots in your preparation, so you can solidify them later in personal practice or rehearsal.聽
What are your favorite things about working with each other?聽
There are many great things about working together! I can only speak for myself (Fran莽ois), but JuEun and Itamar are both incredible expressive musicians and artists, so it motivates me to get better every day! But also, they are really open to try and discuss ideas, making me feel like the music we are working on is never in an arrested development. What worked yesterday might not work today and vice versa. In short, they are inspiring and open-minded colleagues and musicians, the perfect mix!聽
As a group, what inspires your creative process the most? A particular ensemble? A coach/individual player? A piece? Something completely unrelated to music?聽
We try to take as much inspiration as we can from whatever we can! Of course, we all listen to recordings and take what we like about them, but in the rehearsal time, we also try to get a common image that we can all play with (like 鈥樷�檛his passage sounds like a salmon swimming against the current!鈥欌��). Jokes aside, listening to many versions of a piece and listening to our coaches is also part of our creative process; it guides us to an interpretation that will be ours.聽
If you had to give a young chamber group advice, what would it be?聽
Practice before going to rehearsal and once you are in rehearsal, do not obsess ONLY about being together and perfect, remember to say something with the music.聽
How did Schulich help you prepare for Fischoff?聽
Our coach at Schulich, Violaine Melan莽on, was helpful and inspiring. We also got a lot of help from other鈥檚 teachers at the School: Jinjoo Cho, Jean Marchand, Kyoko Hashimoto, and Elizabeth Dolin who donated their time during the semester. We are really grateful to everyone who listened and coached us in the past few months!聽
You have shared many experiences with the alumni group, Katarina Quartet, who won Grand Prize and Gold Medal. What was it like competing against your friends/colleagues?聽
It was an amazing experience to see and listen to our friends from the Katarina Quartet after one year of them being in New York! We are happy that they won the Grand Prize knowing that they are all hardworking and sweet people. We hope to see them again and are looking forward to seeing what will be their next big adventure!聽
