The Secret Trio: Balkan Chamber Music

Photo: Alena Soboleva

THE SECRET TRIO is made up of three astounding musicians, Ara Dinkjian (oud, a fretless lute), Ismail Lumanovski (clarinet) and Tamer Pınarbaşı (kanun, a 76-string zither), who came together to create a new type of chamber music, combining the elements of sound, texture and rhythm with new and interesting approaches to their instruments.

They perform original pieces and traditional melodies that fuse the microtonal modes and improvisation of the Middle East, dance beats of the Balkans, and elements of jazz, rock, classical and world music.

Photo: Alena Soboleva

The delicate harmonies, rapid-fire synchrony and intricate counterpoint developed by a trio of musicians with separate roots in Armenian, Turkish, and Macedonian Roma music are extraordinary.

Tamer Pınarbaşı

Photo: Alena Soboleva

By inventing new ways to play percussively on fundamentally melodic instruments, the ensemble, full of rhythm and drive, harmony and counterpoint, never sounds like only three instruments. Soundscapes, their first CD, was released in 2012. Their second CD, titled Three Of Us, was released in 2015 and includes special guests Sezen Aksu and Erkan Oğur.

Ismail Lumanovski

Photo: Alena Soboleva

The Secret Trio has performed in eight countries, in prestigious venues and festivals such as Lincoln Center (NYC), Symphony Space (NYC), GroundUp Festival (Miami), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Smithsonian Folklife Festival (Washington D.C.), Cemal Reşit Rey Theatre (Istanbul), Odeon Theatre (Amman, Jordan), Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Athens, Greece), and they appeared with a full symphony orchestra at the Sparda Classic Night in Wurzburg, Germany.