It was the 175th birthday celebration of Belgium that brought Damien Pardoen, Luc Tooten, and Stephane De May together to embrace their musicianship. Their name originates from Auber’s opera “De Stomme van Portici”, the opera that marked the start of the Belgian Revolution of 1830. Stephane De May holds a position as a professor of piano at the Conservatory of Rotterdam, while maintaining his position as music director of the Festival d’Anniviers. Damien Pardoen is a violinist in the Orchestre Philharmonic de Luxembourg, and professor at the Conservatoire Royal de Liege. Luc Tooten was the principle cellist of the Brussels Philharmonic for many years, and now focuses mainly on chamber music. Their first CD of Cesar Franck’s piano trios were received with high praise and resulted in a steady collaboration with the label Pavane. Meanwhile, they have released dozens of CD’s of works by Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Georges Onslow, Robert Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninov, and Piazzolla. They have appeared on international stages in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, and China, with world renowned musicians such as Regis Pasquier, Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovsky, Itamar Golan, Vadim Repin, Jean-Bernard Pommier, and Pierre-Henry Xuereb. They are regularly praised by professional press for their musicality, technical perfection, sense of inventiveness, and instrumental mastery. Trio Portici performs on two superlative instruments: a violin by Francesco Rugieri from 1694 and a cello by Allesandro Gagliano from 1705. They now hold the title of Ambassador of Leuven University, after years of being the Musicians in Residence.