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about trio mediæval
Anna Maria Friman Founded in Oslo in 1997, trio mediaeval has developed three distinct strands of repertoire: polyphonic medieval music from England and France, contemporary works and Norwegian medieval ballads and songs. The group's initial phase was inspired by intense periods of work at the Hilliard Summer Festival in England and Germany, and subsequently with Linda Hirst and John Potter. trio mediaeval has given concerts and radio broadcasts throughout Europe, in the USA and Canada. The ensemble released its first CD on ECM Records in October 2001. 'Words of the Angel' immediately went to The Billboard Top 10 Bestsellers list and was the April 2002 Stereophile "Recording of the Month." In January 2004 the trio released its second CD 'Soir dit-elle' on ECM Records. Also this recording was on the Billboard Top 10 list for weeks. The release concert was recorded by Norwegian television (NRK 1) for the series 'Megafon', and was broadcast in May 2004. The group released its third CD 'Stella Maris' in September last year. On Christmas day 2005 the trio, together with Gavin Bryars and Roger Heaton, gave a concert from Härkeberga Kyrka on Swedish Television, SVT 2 in the programme 'veckans konsert' (concert of the week). In June 2006 the trio performed with Tord Gustavsen Trio in a world premiere collaboration concert in Harstad, at the Festspillene i Nord-Norge. Tord composed the music; ‘musical miniatures’ with lyrics by the Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). This summer the two trios have met again, during the Festspillene in Bergen, where the trio medieval was the ‘Artist in Residence’ for two weeks, and later at the Festspillene i Elverum. The trio has collaborated with many composers, including Gavin Bryars, Ivan Moody, Roger Marsh, Paul Robinson, Piers Hellawell, Isobel Davies (UK), William Brooks, Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon (USA), Thoma Simaku (Albania), Oleh Harkavyy (Ukraine), Gonzalo Macías (Mexico), Bjørn Kruse, Andrew Smith and Trygve Seim, Tord Gustavsen (Norway) and Sungji Hong (Korea). In November 2005 the Trio Mediaeval performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York together with the German musikFabrik in 'Shelter'; a Contemporary Oratorio with projections, with music by the American composer-trio Bang on a Can (Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon). The work had its European premier in Cologne and Essen in Germany early last year, and has since then been performed in Amsterdam, Antwerp and St.Pölten. The Oratorio will be performed in Oslo in October during the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music festival. Trio mediaeval has now been performing in 25 states in the USA. The first tour this year (March) took the group to Austin, San Francisco, New York, Amherst, Boston and Darthmouth. In Nov/Dec 07 the trio will tour the US again with a programme consisting of Norwegian traditional folk songs, medieval ballads, and Norwegian holiday hymns. For this project the trio expands in to a quartet, bringing the Norwegian percussionist Birger Mistereggen as the fourth part to the group. The tour will end in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall where the trio had the pleasure of performing last December. The trio is excited about another new collaboration with the Norwegian musicians Arve Henriksen and Jan Bang. The quintet gave its first performance at Verdens Ende during the Festspillene i Vestfold in July. top |
"Singing doesn't get more unnervingly beautiful than the exquisite display mounted in Herbst Theatre on Thursday night by Trio Mediaeval. With its cool, unerringly precise blend of voices, the group made a local debut that has to count among the musical highlights of the year." - San Fransisco Chronicle |
