Lauded as “one of America’s finest young chamber groups” Strad Magazine, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances. First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their "aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance" (Palm Beach Daily News).

Emily Bruskin has performed as soloist with the Virginia, Pacific, San Francisco Ballet, Utah, Nashville, and Wichita Symphonies and has given recitals across the country and around the world in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the American Academy in Rome, the Kennedy Center, and Boston's Jordan Hall. As violinist of the Claremont Trio she has made critically acclaimed recordings on the Arabesque, Bridge, BMOP/Sound, American Modern, Tria, and Ongaku labels and has commissioned trios from Kati Agócs, Nico Muhly, Mason Bates, Gabriela Lena Frank, Sean Shepherd, Helen Grime, Judd Greenstein, and Hillary Zipper. Ms. Bruskin has appeared at the Chamber Music Northwest, Ravinia, Saratoga, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, La Jolla, Bard, Norfolk, and Rockport festivals and has given masterclasses at Columbia University, New England Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and Duke University.

Ms. Bruskin has served as Guest Concertmaster of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra. She can also be heard performing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Ms. Bruskin was a grand prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and received BBC Magazine's Critic's Choice Award and the Classical Recording Foundation's Young Artist Award. Her teachers have included Donald Weilerstein, Ron Copes, Naoko Tanaka, James Buswell, and Susan Reed. A graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard program, she holds degrees in Neuroscience and in Music.

Since her concerto debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 17, cellist Julia Bruskin has established herself as one of the premiere cellists of her generation. She performed Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto with conductor Jahja Ling at Avery Fisher Hall and has also been soloist with the Nashville Symphony, Utah Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and Pacific Symphony among others. Her recent CD of music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Dohnanyi was praised by Fanfare Magazine for its “exquisite beauty of sound and expression.”

A founding member of the critically acclaimed Claremont Trio, Ms. Bruskin won 1st prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was awarded the first ever Kalichestein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award. The trio tours extensively, including concerts at the Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Bridge Records released the Claremont Trio’s recording of the Beethoven “Triple” Concerto with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Beethoven’s Trio Op. 1 No. 1 last year to rave reviews.

Ms. Bruskin has performed with artists including Robert McDonald, Miriam Fried, David Schifrin, Robert McDuffie, Orli Shaham and Anthony McGill. She plays frequent solo recitals with her husband, Aaron Wunsch, including both national and international tours. The two are in their seventh season as joint artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival in the Finger Lakes region of New York, presenting artists such as Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn and the Dover, Miro and Catalyst Quartets. A frequent guest at summer music festivals, Ms. Bruskin has performed at La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Saratoga, Bard, and Norfolk, and toured with the Musicians from Ravinia. Ms. Bruskin has taught at the Juilliard Pre-College and given master classes at the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, the Conservatory at SUNY Purchase, the Boston Conservatory, Duke University and Middlebury College.

Hailed as an “exceptional musician of rare talent who promises to become one of the leading pianists of her generation” by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Sophiko Simsive began her studies at the age of three and, since then, has been invited as a recitalist to prestigious venues such as Berliner Philharmonie and Concertgebouw. Simsive has performed with the Residentie Orkest, Yale Philharmonia, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Jeugdorkest Nederland, and MSM Philharmonia, and has worked with conductors such as Lev Markiz, Peter Oundjian, Jan Willem de Vriend, and Jurjen Hempel.

Simsive is the newest pianist of the prestigious Claremont Trio. She has performed with chamber groups including the Calidore String Quartet and has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Kian Soltani and Gilbert Kalish. As soloist and chamber musician, she has been featured at renowned festivals including the Yellow Barn Festival, the Music Academy of the West and the Verbier Festival. Simsive serves as a Senior Teaching Assistant at Yale University, where she co-teaches alongside violinist Wendy Sharp. She also serves as a Chamber Music and Private Piano Instructor at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Simsive holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Solomon Mikowsky. Her past teachers include Boris Berman, Jacques Rouvier, Mila Baslawskaja, and Maka Aladashvili. Simsive is represented by Interartists Amsterdam Management.