Trio Mediæval
Trio Mediæval returns to Kilden wowing the audience with their crystal-clear voices during last year’s edition of A Nordic Art Symphony Project. The Grammy-nominated trio was founded in Oslo in 1997 by Linn Andrea Fuglseth and has since captivated audiences around the world. At the concert at Kilden , the group Kilden of Fuglseth, Anna Maria Friman, and Ditte Marie Bræin. Their core repertoire ranges from medieval monophonic and polyphonic church music from England, Italy, and France, to newly written works composed specifically for the ensemble, as well as traditional Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic ballads and songs. The group has achieved international recognition through its fruitful collaboration with the legendary record label ECM Records, its open attitude toward collaboration, and an active concert schedule worldwide.
A typical program featuring Trio Mediæval brings together the ensemble’s many musical explorations: historically informed performances of medieval sacred music, folk music (adapted and arranged by the group’s members), Nordic contemporary jazz, commissioned works, and improvisation—with or without instruments.
The trio has collaborated with a number of contemporary composers, including Helena Tulve, Tõnu Kõrvits, Anders Jormin, Tord Gustavsen, Mats Eilertsen, Trygve Seim, Anna Clyne, Gavin Bryars, Ivan Moody, Sungji Hong, and Andrew Smith. In 2006, they collaborated with Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne on the work *Shelter* by Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, and David Lang from the New York-based composer collective Bang on a Can. This collaboration led to a number of new projects, including Julia Wolfe’s *Steel Hammer* (2009), written for the trio and the Bang on a Can All-Stars. The work has been performed in both the U.S. and Europe, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre/LSO, Concertgebouw Brugge, the Elbphilharmonie, Amare in The Hague, and Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.
The collaboration with Bang on a Can also resulted in the orchestral work *Reason to Believe* by David Lang, which received its world premiere by Trio Mediæval and the Oslo Radio Orchestra in October 2011. In 2014, Lang wrote the piece *just (after song of songs) * for the trio and the Garth Knox Trio. This work was later featured in Paolo Sorrentino’s film *Youth*.
In recent years, the trio has collaborated with musicians and ensembles such as Catalina Vicens, Vox Clamantis, the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Kamus Quartet, Arve Henriksen, Rolf Lislevand, Anders Jormin, John Potter, the Sinikka Langeland Ensemble, the Mats Eilertsen Trio, the Grauschumaker Piano Duo & the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.
Trio Mediæval has toured extensively in Europe and the United States, and has also performed in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, and Australia. The group has performed in a wide variety of venues—from churches, monasteries, and cathedrals to clubs, industrial spaces, private homes, outdoor stages, and museums—and has been invited to some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center.
Between 2001 and 2017, the trio released seven albums on ECM Records. They then began a collaboration with Morten Lindberg and the Norwegian record label 2L. So far, they have released three albums on this label: Solacium (2021), An Old Hall Ladymass(2023), and YULE (2024). In 2025, Trio Mediæval became a member of the European Early Music Network.
The trio consists of founders Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Anna Maria Friman, as well as Jorunn Lovise Husan, who joined in 2018. Starting in the fall of 2025, Ditte Marie Bræin will alternate with Linn Andrea Fuglseth.
