Con:Trust Akkordeonduo
Biography Con:Trust Akkordeonduo
The accordion duo con:trust
was founded in Weimar in 2016 and consists of accordionists Marius Staible and Daniel Roth. In their work, they combine classical repertoire, contemporary music, and original compositions to create distinctive programs that showcase the accordion as a concert instrument in all its tonal diversity.
Both musicians studied at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar as well as at other international institutions. Marius Staible trained under teachers including Stephan Bahr and Prof. Claudia Buder, and studied electroacoustic music at the Studio for Electroacoustic Music (SEAM) in Weimar. His composition *Unplugged³* has become an established set piece for several competitions; in 2021, he won first prize at the International Accordion Competition in Vilnius.
Daniel Roth studied accordion in Weimar and Helsinki (under Prof. Claudia Buder, Prof. Ivan Koval, and Prof. Veli Kujala, among others) and music theory in Weimar. In addition to performing, he regularly composes and arranges music for various instrumentations; in 2023, he won first prize at the international *accordions-nous.org* competition in Belgium.
As a duo, Staible and Roth first gained international recognition in 2017 by winning first prize at two Italian chamber music competitions: Val Tidone and Tino Anguissola Scotti. This led to invitations to festivals and concert series such as the Kurt Weill Festival Dessau, Bachspiele Leipzig, Unerhörte Musik Berlin, and Kunstfest Weimar, as well as concert tours to countries including the Czech Republic, Israel, Belgium, France, Finland, Greece, Austria, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and the USA. Performances have taken the duo to the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as on a tour to New York and Toronto in 2024.
A key focus of con:trust’s work is collaboration with contemporary composers. The duo has premiered numerous works—including pieces by Uroš Rojko, C. René Hirschfeld, and So Young Kim—thereby continuously expanding the repertoire for accordion duo.
Their own compositions and recordings have been broadcast by stations such as Deutschlandfunk Kultur, MDR Thüringen, and Saarländischer Rundfunk.
In addition to their concert activities, Staible and Roth are dedicated to music education and outreach. They lead workshops and masterclasses at institutions including the University of Toronto, the Manhattan School of Music, HMT Leipzig, and BTU Cottbus, and serve as jurors for competitions such as *Jugend musiziert*, the Bad Sulza Music Days, and the Werner Richter Accordion Competition. In 2022, they received the Franz Liszt Prize for their artistic achievements at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT.
In 2026, Daniel Roth was named an ambassador for the Saarland’s "Year of the Accordion."
Through programs ranging from early music and contemporary music to specially developed concert formats, con:trust aims to showcase the accordion as a versatile, contemporary concert instrument and to reach new audiences.
