Trio Burlesco was founded in the beginning of 2004 by Saskia Plagge (cello), Arno Stoffelsma (clarinet) and Cathelijne Noorland (piano). Both Saskia and Arno had performed with Cathelijne many times when they came up with the idea to form a trio. Already after working for a short period of time the ensemble won the audition for a concert tour organized by “Stichting Muziek in Huis”. This tour took them to many small venues in the Netherlands. In 2006 the Trio Burlesco was selected for the prestigious concert series “Het Debuut” which took them to all the main concert halls in the Netherlands including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Vredenburg in Utrecht. They also performed in the concert series “Young Professionals in Music”. In 2008 Trio Burlesco won the audience-, the press- and the AVRO-prize at the Vriendenkrans- competition of the Concertgebouw. The AVRO prize gave the trio the opportunity to record a CD. Trio Burlesco performed many times on radio and TV, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Apart from taking many chambermusic lessons with Dutch musicians, in 2008 Trio Burlesco also participated in a masterclas by Menahem Pressler.
The repertoire for clarinet trio is relatively unknown, but apart of the masterpieces written by Beethoven and Brahms, there are many other beautiful works for this combination of instruments. The Trio also takes great interest in contemporary (Dutch) music. Young talented composers, among them Max Knigge and Matthias Kadar, wrote works for the trio. They also worked with the well-known Dutch composer Theo Loevendie. In 2007 the trio played a series of world premières in the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam at the Suite Muziekweek, a festival dedicated to contemporary music.