The
Ahn Trio is a classical music group consisting of Korean-American sisters
Angella Ahn,
Lucia Ahn, and
Maria Ahn. All three were born in Seoul, South Korea, first twins
Maria and
Lucia, then, two years later,
Angella. They each took up the piano at a young age, but eventually
Lucia stayed with the instrument, while
Angella moved to violin and
Maria to cello. They began playing in public in 1979, then moved to the U.S. and enrolled at Juilliard in 1981. A 1987 Time magazine story on "Asian-American Whiz Kids" brought them to national attention, leading to television appearances and more media coverage. By 1995, they were recording for Chesky Records, which released Paris Rio, an album of music by
Villa-Lobos and
Ravel, and concertizing, particularly, as of 1998, in the free-form, eclectic format they referred to as "Ahn-Plugged." Signing to EMI, they released Dvorák: Piano Trios, an album of music by
Dvorák,
Shostakovich, and
Josef Suk, in 1999, and then Ahn-Plugged in June 2000. It included works by
Kenji Bunch,
Astor Piazzolla,
Leonard Bernstein,
Eric Ewazen, and
Michael Nyman, and concluded with a version of the
David Bowie/
Pat Metheny hit "This Is Not America." A fourth album, Groovebox, appeared on October 22, 2002, and featured works by
Nyman,
Piazzolla,
Bunch, and
Maurice Jarre, after beginning with
the Doors' "Riders on the Storm." A fifth album,
Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac, marked a move to Sony BMG Masterworks when it appeared on the RCA Red Seal label on April 1, 2008.