Time for Three

The groundbreaking, category-shattering trio Time for Three (Tf3) transcends traditional classification, with elements of classical, country western, gypsy and jazz idioms forming a blend all its own. The members — Nicolas (Nick) Kendall and Nikki Chooi violins and Ranaan Meyer, double bass — carry a passion for improvisation, composing and arranging, all prime elements of the ensemble’s playing.

To date the group has performed hundreds of engagements as diverse as its music: from featured guest soloists on the Philadelphia Orchestra’s subscription series to Club Yoshi’s in San Francisco to residencies at the Kennedy Center to Christoph Eschenbach’s birthday concert at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Recent highlights included their Carnegie Hall debut, appearances with the Boston Pops, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, a sell-out concert at the 2014 BBC Proms, and an appearance on the ABC prime time hit show “Dancing with the Stars.”

TF3’s high-energy performances are free of conventional practices, drawing instead from the members’ differing musical backgrounds. The trio also performs its own arrangements of traditional repertoire and Ranaan Meyer provides original compositions to complement the trio’s offerings.

TF3 recently released their debut Universal Music Classics album, Time for Three, which spent seven consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Classical Crossover Chart. The ensemble has also embarked on a major commissioning programs to expand its unique repertoire for symphony orchestras. These include Concerto 4-3, written by Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon, Travels in Time for Three by Chris Brubeck in 2010, co-commissioned by the Boston Pops, the Youngstown Symphony, and eight other orchestras, and Games and Challenges: Something Wonderful Right Away by William Bolcom, commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony. Their latest project, for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, was a 55-minute piece with orchestra which they premiered in August 2015 in Sun Valley, Idaho.