Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola combines the sounds of the human voice, piano and viola da gamba with electronic effects and medieval harp. The players have diverse back- grounds in early music, jazz, Finnish folk music and contemporary music, although it was medieval music that was the inspiration for their highly personal and recognisable sound.
The group continues to explore the chants of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Pérotin (1160-1230) and 14th-century pilgrimage songs. Echoes from monasteries, cathedrals and pilgrimage sites are combined with delicate improvisations and original compositions; they create links between the eras and centuries as they invite the listener on a journey towards peace and tranquility.
The trio is fascinated by how time is perceived and how these beautiful medieval melodies and texts speak to us now, by the idea of now — the moment they were written down in the medieval manuscripts — and how the power of now shapes their improvisations and compositions hundreds of years later.
Following their debut album ÆR on Fuga Libera in 2021, Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola announces their second album. Komorebi is scheduled for release on May 26th by Outhere Music. The project is a post-classical exploration of themes of fragility and loss, mixing elements of medieval and electronic music and jazz to create a wondrous and meditative sound world.
Komorebi is an untranslatable Japanese word best described as“sunlight shining through tree leaves, capturing the interplay between light and leaves”. This trio composed of one Dutch and two Finnish musicians explores the fragility of nature and death, the fleeting nature of light seen through leaves, the poetry and vividness of nature as well as the loss of natural habitats.
The texts are original poetry from singer Aino Peltomaa, as well as precocious Finnish poet Saima Harmaja (1913–1937), Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), and from the Cantus Sororum (Songs of the Sisters), a collection of medieval Bridgettine chants.
Aino Peltomaa Voice, Medieval Harp
Harmen Fraanje Piano, Synth
Mikko Perkola Viola da Gamba, Effects
Musicians
Aino Peltomaa is a Finnish singer and musician who performs a wide range of medieval, renaissance and contemporary music as well as free improvisation. Peltomaa collaborates actively with musicians and artists from different genres and performs regularly in Finland and abroad.
She leads or co-leads groups such as Trio Peltomaa Fraanje Perkola, Ensemble Gamut!, Harmony of the Spheres, Amor Céu and also works with the Helsinki Chamber Choir, ‘k:amos, Aition and trio Sufira.
She holds retreats and meditation concerts and has recorded for labels Fuga Libera, Eclipse Music and Aspen Edities, Alba Records. She holds Master’s degrees in music and in psychology.
Harmen Fraanje is a Dutch pianist, composer living in Amsterdam.
According to the internationally renowned website AllAboutJazz “Harmen Fraanje is emerging as one of the most impressive young European pianists of the past decade.”
Fraanje leads and co-leads several groups and collaborates regularly with Reijseger Fraanje Sylla, Mats Eilertsen Trio, a duo with Arve Henriksen, Trio Fraanje/Soniano/Gouband, Michael Moore and also performs solo concerts. Recordings of the projects he’s involved in have been released by eminent labels such as ECM, Winter & Winter, Hubro Music. Fraanje performed with artists as Ambrose Akinmusire, Kenny Wheeler, Thomas Morgan, Werner Herzog, Mark Turner, Trygve Seim.
Fraanje is chairman of the jazz piano faculty at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.
Viola da gamba-player, composer and singer Mikko Perkolais a Finnish early-music prodigy, performing regularly with Gramophone-awarded group Phantasm, ConcertoPalatino and Helsinki Baroque Orchestra.
He has performed and recorded with the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, Battalia, Ensemble Severin, Topi Lehtipuu, Hans-OlaEricsson and Anna Lindail. He has recorded gamba sonatas with Aapo Häkkinen for the renowned label Naxos.
Mikko Perkola performs in many genres beyond early music and also works with jazz musicians, dancers, visual artists and contemporary music specialists. He tours in 2023 with his solo program ‘Without the name you are light.’
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