A story to tell

The goal is to tell a story through music.

What is that story?

“Oh, there are a million stories,” said Stefan Heinemeyer with a laugh. “It’s all very imaginative. Everybody can find their own pictures while listening to the music.”

Local music lovers will get that opportunity Friday when ATOS Trio performs at 7:30 p.m. in Hall-Moser Theatre on the Jay County Campus of Arts Place as part of the Eric R. Rogers Performing Arts Series.

“It’s just about total commitment to chamber music, to playing together, to tell a story, to take the audience on a journey on these beautiful pieces we perform,” said Heinemeyer, the group’s cellist who will be joined by violinist Annette von Hehn and pianist Thomas Hoppe. “And just to enjoy the music. …

“And I think the goal is just to be driven away for two hours, to forget worries, to sink into emotions …”

Friday’s concert — tickets are available at Arts Place, by calling (260) 726-4809 or at myartsplace.org — will open with Joseph Haydn’s Unterhauser, a piece that was described by the composer as “in the gypsy style.” It will be followed by a selection from Spanish composer Gaspar Cassadó.

The final piece will be Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, which Heinemeyer called one of the peaks for a piano trio.

“It’s a 40-minute piece filled with beautiful melodies, very Schubert-like, song-like,” he said. “It’s a very diverse program. Very different styles and tunes and expressions.”

The trio of German musicians are celebrating their 20th anniversary together this year. Over those two decades, they have won the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award — it is considered the gold standard for trios in the United States — and been recognized as New Generation Artists by the BBC.

Hoppe and von Hehn met while working at The Julliard School in New York City before returning Germany in Berlin. They were looking for a cellist, and one of von Hehn’s teachers recommended Heinemeyer.

“Actually, we played this very Schubert trio for sight-reading the first time we met,” said Heinemeyer. “Directly after that, playing through, we sat together and said, ‘Yeah, let’s form a trio. Let’s do this. Let’s commit.’ And ever since we’ve enjoyed playing together and traveling together and spending time together.

“It’s actually quite rare to have a group for this long period of time without any changes in the ensemble.”

They attribute that longevity to trust.

“We can totally depend on each other,” Heinemeyer added. “We don’t have to discuss anymore, anything, inside the music. We know exactly how the other one will react.”

If one of the performances makes a change within a performance, “everybody will follow,” he added. “It’s like speaking to each other without using words.”

They plan to find ways to celebrate their anniversary together throughout the year, though their touring schedule remains slimmer than it used to be because of the coronavirus pandemic. They recently finished recording a CD of Felix Mendelssohn trio’s with plans to release it later in 2023 as a birthday present to themselves.

The trio visits the United States every year — their 2024 trip will include a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City — though the current trip will be a shorter one as the group heads home after Friday night’s performance. (It played a concert Tuesday for the Chicago German Society.)

Heinemeyer, von Hehn and Hoppe have multiple concerts scheduled next month at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy.

“For me, I always enjoy coming to the States, not only for the concerts, but also for the travel, for meeting new people and seeing the country and going around the different states — exploring new things,” said Heinemeyer. “We are just happy to be here and to play … I think it will be a lot of fun to meet people and play for you.”