Trio Mediaeval

Berit Opheim, Anna Maria Friman, Linn Fuglseth

The brilliant Scandinavian singers of Trio Mediæval have created a fascinating and unique world of sound, which they portray with unerring virtuosity. Founded in 1997 in Oslo, Trio Mediæval has a specialised repertoire of ballads and songs from the Norwegian Middle Ages and polyphonic music from medieval England, France and Italy that the three singers arrange themselves, as well as contemporary works written specifically for the ensemble.

Trio Mediæval's first CD on ECM Records, Words of the Angel, immediately reached Billboard's Top 10 Bestseller list and was made the Stereophile "Recording of the Month" in April 2002. Further releases on ECM followed in 2004 with Soir, dit-elle and in 2005 with Stella Maris. In October 2007 the trio’s long-awaited CD of Norwegian ballads and songs entitled Folk Songs was released and immediately received enthusiastic reviews. Folk Songs was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Chamber Music Performance" the following year. Their recording A Worcester Ladymass was selected by the German Record Critics’ Award as one of the best new releases in the "Early Music" category and was met again with the highest critical acclaim. The Trio Mediæval’s latest album Aquilonis was released in November 2014 on ECM.

Trio Mediæval has performed throughout Europe in prestigious venues such as the Oslo Concert Hall, Bozar in Brussels, De Doelen Rotterdam, Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Wiener Konzerthaus, as well as at renowned festivals, among them the Cheltenham Music Festival, Snape Proms/Aldeburgh Music, SWR RheinVokal Festival, Schwetzinger SWR Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersächsische Musiktage and the Dresden Music Festival. Several engagements have also taken them beyond Europe, including performances at the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Carnegie Hall.

The trio collaborates with a multitude of contemporary composers including Gavin Bryars, Ivan Moody, Oleh Harkavyy and Andrew Smith. As a result of their co-operation with Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe and David Lang, and with the musikFabrik Cologne, the trio premiered Shelter, its biggest multi-media contemporary music project to date. Shelter premiered in Cologne in 2005 and was fully staged the same year at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Julia Wolfe was so fascinated by the Trio Mediæval’s voices that she wrote a piece for them entitled Steel Hammer. Together with the Bang on a Can All-Stars the trio premiered Steel Hammer in New York's Carnegie Hall in November 2009 and revived this programme again in 2013 in Bruges, Uppsala and at the Barbican Centre London. Steel Hammer was released on CD in April 2014 on Cantaloupe Music. The new recordings of John Adam’s Grand Pianola Music with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, as well as new works by David Lang and Betty Olivero will be available soon.

In the 2016/17 season the singers will premiere their latest CD programme Aquilonis in the USA, returning to the Carnegie Hall among other venues, and will also present it on tour in the Netherlands. Furthermore they will release a new recording entitled RIMUR together with the trumpet player Arve Henriksen on ECM.

2016/17 season

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