Since its premiere at the Konzerthaus Berlin in 2004, Trio Grand Cru has been an audience favorite in venues as diverse as the Bar jeder Vernunft in Berlin, the Musikverein Vienna, the Aids Gala of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Beethovenhaus Bonn, the Semperoper Dresden, the Kurt-Weill Festival in Dessau, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Köstritzer Spiegelzelt Weimar and the MS Deutschland. Christoph Israel as pianist and arranger, and Emily Bowman and Elena Cheah as violinist and cellist have wantonly cast away everything ‘classical’ but their instruments, their virtuosity, and their intensity of expression.

Making use of the occasional additional instrument such as ukulele, woodblock, shakers, and recorder (to name a few), this charismatic threesome is not a ‘crossover’ ensemble: rather, they have crossed over already, to a realm where no rules exist but their own, where their creativity and spontaneity can have free reign over any musical genre they choose to conquer.

In 2005 Trio Grand Cru brought out its first recording of selections from the concert program of the same name, First Vintage, a collection of classic film music scores, chanson, jazz standards, and tango. Other programs have included a collaboration with Senta Berger in the literary evening “Wiener Melange” and a Christmas program with Christiane Hörbiger.

For the Jüdische Kulturtage Berlin—the annual Berlin Jewish cultural festival—the trio created and directed “L’heure Bleue” in December 2005 with actress Anna Kubin, an evening of songs by Jewish composers of the Weimar Republic. The following year, they assembled a program of their favorite film music from the 1940’s to the 1960’s for performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival.

In 2007, Christoph Israel and Dorian Cheah, Elena’s brother, composed the music for Pepe Danquart’s award-winning documentary film “To the Limit.” Lisa Lee, violin, and Amalia Aubert, viola, joined Trio Grand Cru to record Christoph’s original compositions for the film.