LODESTAR TRIO

Lodestar Trio is a unique collaboration between stars of the Scandinavian folk scene Erik Rydvall and Olav Mjelva, and British 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. The trio formed in 2018 after Max wrote Erik and Olav an email after seeing one of their duo videos. They met up and played together for 3 days, and so Lodestar Trio was born! Since then they have recorded and released their debut album Bach to Folk in 2022 on the Naxos label to critical acclaim. They have appeared live on BBC radio, been featured on German, Norwegian, Swedish and Irish national radio, on Classic FM, and have performed at festivals across Europe including Germany, Switzerland. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, and the UK. Their repertoire includes uniquely re-imagined versions of pieces from the Bach cello suites, the Bach sonatas and partitas for solo violin, all played in Lodestar’s own trio arrangements, and other Baroque works by Merula and Couperin, alongside traditional and contemporary Nordic tunes.

They made their Barbican Centre debut in Oct 2024 and launched their new project Folk Odyssey with their own arrangements of Grieg and Bartok. In February 2025 they play in Reykjavik with Deutsche Grammophon artist Viktor Arnasson in a new collaboration.

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