Storytellers: Higdon, Harbison, Ives – Trio Azura

Trio Azura’s Storytellers launches the Colburn Collection: an exclusive new recording partnership between Delos and the Colburn School, Los Angeles, whose main design is to be a powerful springboard for the next generation of musicians. Nearly a century separates the works on this album, yet Charles Ives, John Harbison, and Jennifer Higdon share a distinctly American spirit of curiosity and individuality. Their music questions, provokes, implies, jokes, challenges, and explores, always searching for new ways to tell a story. Their singular compositional voices are realized in these performances by Trio Azura, praised by Gramophone for their “intelligence and imagination” and “profound emotion.” Ensemble-in-Residence at Colburn, Trio Azura was named the winner of the 2025 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions and the organization’s first Ensemble-in-Residence, as well as the Grand Prize winner of the 2024 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Trio Azura consists of Canadian violinist Duncan McDougall, South Korean cellist Yejin Hong, and Chinese pianist Yanfeng (Tony) Bai.