Trio Abstrakt is a declaration of love to new chamber music – with the highest precision and dedication, Trio Abstrakt has been working on sophisticated contemporary chamber music of the last three decades for over 8 years. Trio Abstrakt is the musical home of musicians Salim(a) Javaid (saxophone), Marlies Debacker (piano) and Shiau-Shiuan Hung (percussion). Firmly anchored in the chamber music tradition and yet always in dialogue with the ‘now’, the ensemble pursues the goal of making ‘music of today’ resound. In view of their exciting interpretations, their sensitive playing and their preference for complex, intricate and multi layered music, it is not surprising that the musicians are the dedicatees of new works by renowned composers such as Pierluigi Billone, Franck Bedrossian, Isabel Mundry, Giorgio Netti, Michael Edwards, Alberto Posadas and many others.

The “modern” instrumentation of saxophone, piano and percussion allows the ensemble to reach out into diverse musical styles and the compositions of the ensemble’s repertoire often incorporate influences rom improvised, electronic, classical, rock and jazz music. In addition, the musicians are constantly researching and expanding their repertoire of sounds. Trio Abstrakt brings together the entire saxophone family (from sopranino to bass saxophone), an extensive range of percussion instruments (from orchestral and traditional to self-built instruments and objects) and the grand piano (as well as electronic keyboard instruments)  thus creating a rich pool of sound possibilities available to the composers. An important part of Trio Abstrakt’s work is commissioning composers and developing new concert formats. In recent years, Trio Abstrakt has launched three new concert series: In spotlight, a single composer dedicates a full-length work to the trio in the form of an immersive chamber music experience between music theater, electronics and chamber concert. In blurringEdges, up to three composers create a new, hour long work in a collaborative process. The panel discussion and concert format chambers presents chamber music and a thematically related panel with the evening’s composers and guests from the music scene.