June 13: Newport Classical Presents the GRAMMY-Nominated Trio Mediaeval in Final Chamber Series Concert of the Season
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Newport Classical Concludes 2024-25 Chamber Series with Enchanting Finale
Trio Mediaeval
Friday, June 13 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 21, 2025 at 7:30pm
Newport Classical Recital Hall | 42 Dearborn St | Newport, RI
Tickets and Information
Newport, RI – Newport Classical closes its fourth full-season Chamber Series, which featured twelve concerts held at the organization’s home venue the Newport Classical Recital Hall (42 Dearborn St.), with the GRAMMY®-nominated Trio Mediaeval on Friday, June 13, 2025 at 7:30pm.
Known for their crystalline voices and ethereal blend, The New York Times reports, “few vocal ensembles produce quite as beautiful and finely blended a sound as this Norwegian trio.” For the 2024-25 Chamber Series finale, Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, Jorunn Lovise Husan) immerses Newport audiences in the sonic worlds of Swedish and Norwegian vocal folk music. The ensemble showcases the countries’ traditional songs, hymns, fiddle tunes, ballads, and distinctive tradition of singing without words – a style known as tulling, sulling, or tralling, in which a sequence of consonants is invented or improvised by the singer.
Of their program, the Trio says, “Originally, these folk songs were all a part of daily life; people created tunes and texts for all sorts of daily events and special occasions. In this program we present a selection of love songs, wedding tunes, lullabies, sun-prayers, ballads and hymns. None of this music was composed to be a part of the concert scene nor to be performed for an audience, as we understand the term today. In the twentieth century, ethnographers and folk song collectors began to record these wonderful songs and tunes, and a vast number of melodies have been transcribed and preserved for future generations of singers and listeners. It is quite a listening friendly programme with beautiful melodies and rhythms. In the same way that cultures, languages, and dialects vary from place to place, so do forms of musical expression. We would like to see this performance as our contribution to a living oral tradition; although these songs bear our musical imprint, they are colored by all those who have performed and passed on the music before us.”
Formed in 1997, Trio Mediæval has toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States, as well as in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, and Australia, performing at venues including Carnegie Hall in New York; the Barbican Centre in London; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; the Vienna Konzerthaus; the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and other iconic halls throughout the world.
Recently, the trio has collaborated with musicians and orchestras such as Catalina Vicens, Vox Clamantis, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Arve Henriksen, Anders Jormin, John Potter, Sinikka Langeland Ensemble, Mats Eilertsen Trio, Grauschumaker Piano Duo & Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bang on a Can All-Stars, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.
Newport Classical's Chamber Series takes place at Newport Classical Recital Hall in downtown Newport, known for its striking architecture and excellent acoustics. The Chamber Series, newly expanded to twelve concerts held between September and June, reaffirms Newport Classical’s commitment to offer year-round classical music programming. Audiences are invited to enjoy performances by world-class classical musicians in a relaxed setting, with a complimentary glass of wine from Greenvale Vineyards and homemade treats by Newport Classical volunteers.
As part of Newport Classical’s desire to create connections between classical music, the artists who perform it, and the Newport community, all musicians performing on the Chamber Series also visit Newport-area schools to perform for, speak with, and inspire students, through Newport Classical’s Music Education and Engagement Initiative.
Tickets are now available for the 2025 Newport Classical Music Festival, which takes place from July 4-22, 2025. Highlights include Opening Night featuring Two Pianos with Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung; two evenings with Broadway star Jessica Vosk, best known for her lead role in Wicked; performances by extraordinary pianists Inon Barnatan, Sara Davis Buechner, and Wynona Wang; celebrated soprano Karen Slack's African Queens project co-commissioned by Newport Classical with a national consortium; the US premiere of a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang co-commissioned by Newport Classical with an international consortium; performances by world-class artists including violinist Leila Josefowicz, The Westerlies, Third Coast Percussion, harpist Emily Levin, guitarists Ziggy and Miles, Palaver Strings, Attacca Quartet, Twelfth Night, The Gesualdo Six, Tallā Rouge, Empire Wild, and more; Opera Night: An American Tapestry; and Closing Night with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and violinist Stefan Jackiw. For the fifth year in a row, Newport Classical has commissioned a brand new work to be premiered at the Festival. This year's Composer-in-Residence is Cris Derksen, a Juno-nominated Indigenous cellist and composer, who has written a new work for the Galvin Cello Quartet.
About Newport Classical
Newport Classical is a premier performing arts organization that welcomes people of every age, culture, and background to intimate, immersive musical experiences. The organization presents world-renowned and up-and-coming artistic talents at stunning, storied venues across Newport – an internationally sought-after cultural and recreational destination.
Originally founded in 1969 as Rhode Island Arts Foundation at Newport, Inc., Newport Classical has a rich legacy of musical curiosity having presented the American debuts of hundreds of international artists and is most well-known for hosting three weeks of concerts in the summer in the historic mansions throughout Newport and Aquidneck Island. In the 56 years since, Newport Classical has become the most active year-round presenter of music on Aquidneck Island, and an essential pillar of Rhode Island’s cultural landscape, welcoming thousands of patrons all year long.
Newport Classical invests in the future of classical music as a diverse, relevant, and ever-evolving art form through its four core programs – the one-of-a-kind Music Festival; the Chamber Series in the Newport Classical Recital Hall; the free, family-friendly Community Concerts Series; and the Music Education and Engagement Initiative that inspires students in local schools to become the arts advocates and music lovers of tomorrow. These programs illustrate the organization’s ongoing commitment to presenting “timeless music for today.”
In 2021, the organization launched a new commissioning initiative – each year, Newport Classical will commission a new work by a Black, Indigenous, person of color, or woman composer as a commitment to the future of classical music. To date, Newport Classical has commissioned and presented the world premiere of works by Stacy Garrop, Shawn Okpebholo, Curtis Stewart, and Clarice Assad.