Lodestar Trio is a unique collaboration between Scandinavian folk music stars Erik Rydvall and Olav Mjelva, and British-German violin virtuoso Max Baillie. Together they bring a spirit of groove and improvisation into Baroque music by combining traditional nordic string instruments— the Swedish nyckelharpa and the Norwegian hardanger fiddle— with the violin.
Since forming in 2018 the trio has played at festivals across Europe including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, and the UK, and made its Barbican Centre debut in London in October 2024. They have appeared live on BBC radio, been featured on German, Norwegian, Swedish and Irish national radio, and on Classic FM.
Their repertoire includes uniquely re-imagined versions of pieces from the Bach cello suites and Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin, all played in Lodestar Trio’s own trio arrangements, and other Baroque works by Merula and Couperin, Lully, alongside traditional and contemporary Nordic tunes. They recorded and released this critically acclaimed programme, Bach to Folk, on the Naxos label in 2022.
In October this year they will collaborate with Norwegian Baroque ensemble Barockkanerne for the premiere of a larger ensemble version of their Baroque programme for Voss Festival, Norway.
Their latest project A Folk Odyssey was launched in Nov 2024 and features brand new arrangements of Grieg’s Holberg Suite including the Nordic folk instruments that inspired the original piece. They bring this programme to Scotland later this year, and to the Brugges Concertgebouw with award-winning Belgian string ensemble Bryggen Strings, and to Germany’s Schleswig Holstein Festival next Summer.
In February this year they collaborated with Icelandic composer and Deutsche Grammophon artist Viktor Arnasson in Reykjavik.
Individually the three musicians of Lodestar Trio are stars in their fields and have collaborated with leading artists across the globe, have played as soloists and chamber musicians in major concert halls and appeared on blockbuster film scores.
Their debut album was released on Naxos in September 2022! Listen here
You can buy the album here: Click here to go to Rydvall/Mjelva´s website
Reviews:
- “Fascinating debut album…” https://worldmusiccentral.org/2022/10/12/lodestar-trios-bach-to-folk/ – World Music Central, USA
- ☆☆☆☆ “Lodestar do much more than shine a different light on Bach’s pieces, they make them anew.” – Songlines, UK
- “The new compositions I personally find are as strong as all the old compositions…” – Moors Magazine, Netherlands
- Aired on BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics by Georgia Mann September 2022 – @ 9:12 into the show, UK
- “You can feel the happiness as a listener… Every note of the trio conveys lightness and joy…” – Folker, Germany (online link available soon)
- “The beginning of a fresh, exciting and sustainable concept…” – Era Jazzu, Poland
- “Det e’ jaevlig bra! This is So good.” – bgfm.radio, Wales
- “The album is presented with a very accurate title: it really connects Bach with Nordic folk” – JazzQuad, Russia
