Anna Maria Friman

The Swedish soprano Anna Maria Friman's solo engagements include performances with Gavin Bryars Ensemble, Red Byrd, The Ciconia Ensemble (with John Potter), Peter Hill, the NYYD Ensemble (Estonia), Latvian Radio Choir, Stuttgart Bach Choir, Det Norske Solistkor, The Girl Choristers of Washington National Cathedral, Collegium Vocale Gent and Ricercar Consort directed by Philippe Pierlot. This spring Anna has performed a few gigs in a duo format with the Norwegian trumpet player Arve Henriksen.Anna is a member of the Scandinavian vocal ensemble Trio Mediæval that specializes in medieval music from England, France and Italy, contemporary works and Norwegian traditional songs and ballads. The trio has released 3 CDs on ECM Records. 'Words of the Angel', (2002) 'Soir dit-elle' (2004) and 'Stella Maris' (2005) immediately went to The Billboard Top 10 Bestsellers list. This autumn the trio will release its fourth record 'Folk Songs' on ECM Records. The group is being joined by the Norwegian percussionist Birger Mistereggen and the quartet will tour in Europe and the USA this autumn.This year the trio was the Artist in Residence during the Festspillene i Bergen, Norway. In November 2005 the trio mediaeval performed four shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York together with the German musikFabrik in 'Shelter'; a Contemporary Oratorio with projections, with music by the American composer-trio Bang on a Can (Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon). The work had its European premier in Cologne and Essen in Germany last year and was recently performed in Amsterdam and Antwerp. During the last year the trio has given three concerts with Tord Gustavsen Trio in Harstad, Bergen and Hamar. Tord composed the music; ‘musical miniatures’ with lyrics by the Sufi poet Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273).Anna has a BA in solo performance from the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway, where she was studied with Thorbjørn Lindhjem. She continued her postgraduate studies at Trinity College of Music in London with Linda Hirst and Barbara Bonney.She is currently working on a PhD at the University of York (UK).