This unique classical ensemble known as the *Ekaterinburg Classical Trio*, aka the Kat Trio, was born in the summer of 1998 in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Vasil Galiulin, Victoria Gorbich, and Vladislav Gorbich, all graduates of the Ural State Conservatory, decided to take their love of music and their violin-clarinet-piano arrangements to festivals and concert venues throughout the Urals. They spent much of that summer playing to enthusiastic audiences in town halls and indoor stages.

The audience feedback was encouraging, even inspiring, all the while reinforcing the overpowering feeling that their calling was to take their new impressions of classical music and their heartfelt performances to a much greater audience. Their first US tour in the spring of 2000 was a major success and these world class players return as often as possible to play for their appreciative American audiences.