Lodestar Trio

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 Bach to Folk programme 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 2025 year they collaborated with Norwegian Baroque ensemble Barockkanerne for the premiere of a larger ensemble version of their Baroque programme for Voss Festival, Norway. 

Their latest project 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 have since brought this programme to Scotland, to the Brugges Concertgebouw with award-winning Belgian string ensemble Bryggen Strings, and to Germany’s Schleswig Holstein Festival including live radio broadcast on NDR German national radio and Kultur Radio. 

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.