
KESS trio's name is constructed of first letters of the names of its
members: sisters Katarina (violin), Emilia (cello) and Simonida
(flute and piano) Spasojević. They all started playing piano when
they were about 5 years old, Katarina started the violin at the same
time, and the two older girls later added the second instrument.
Simonida, the oldest, after studying piano with Niva Fried for
several years, added the flute in 4th grade, when she started
playing in school band. She started flute lessons with Tim Teranella
when she was 12, in 2013.
Emilia, the middle sister, wanted to play the violin, but her parents
managed to persuade her to start the piano, which was already bought
for her oldest sister. Two years later, little Katarina's wishes to
play the violin would not be so easy to dismiss. She was enrolled in
violin lessons with Alex Vavilov. Once Katarina got to learn to play
two instruments, the other two girls demanded the same.
Emilia started the violin with the same teacher as Katarina,
Alex Vavilov. But by the end of the semester she realized that
she preferred lower-pitched instruments. So, at age 8, in 2012,
Emilia started taking cello lessons with Arkady Beletsky. She
was so eager to play in a trio with her sisters that, four
months into her cello training, she started improvising while
Simonida accompanied Katarina. That is how she composed the
cello part for the first piece KESS trio performed in public, in
the neighborhood church in September 2012: the violin-piano
piece called 'Rondino' by a Hungarian composer Istvan
Selenyi. Emilia's teacher, in response to his student's obvious
passion, started coaching the girls as a trio. Their first
'real' piano trio was Haydn's Gypsy Rondo.
In 2014, when all three girls were enrolled in Boston Youth
Symphony Orchestra, Marla Rubinson became their trio coach,
and she is in charge of the trio's progress ever since. At the
same time, all the girls received generous scholarships from
The Rivers School Conservatory, and they all switched to new
music teachers. Simonida started taking piano lessons with
Ramon Rivera and flute lessons with Ann Bobo, Emilia started
taking cello lessons with Ronald Lowry, and Katarina started
taking violin lessons with Magdalena Richter. During summer,
which they spend with their grandmother in Novi Sad, Serbia,
they take lessons with their summer teachers, Aleksandar Đurić
(flute), Marijana Krmpotić (cello), and Milan Čizmić (violin).
The girls especially enjoy playing in retirement communities,
because of the relaxing atmosphere and cozy time they share
with the seniors after the concerts. But they also like doing
competitions and recitals too.