Trio Ar­c­hai

Foun­ded in Switz­er­land, the Ar­c­hai Trio is ma­king a name for its­elf from its home ci­ties of Ba­sel and Lon­don. Al­rea­dy ex­pe­ri­en­ced cham­ber mu­si­ci­ans, pia­nist Mar Va­lor, vio­li­nist Ayla Şa­hin and cel­list Finn Man­ni­on met at the Ba­sel Mu­sic Aca­de­my and quick­ly rea­li­zed that they har­mo­ni­ze ex­cep­tio­nal­ly well as a trio.

As pri­ze­win­ners of the OR­PHEUS Swiss Cham­ber Mu­sic Com­pe­ti­ti­on 2023 and win­ners of the 72nd Roy­al Over-Seas League Com­pe­ti­ti­on 2024, they made their de­but at Wig­mo­re Hall in June 2024. Awar­ded the Phil­ip and Do­ro­thy Green Young Ar­tist Award (PDGYA) by Ma­king­Mu­sic and win­ners of the Tun­nell Trust Awards Sche­me 2025/26, they can look for­ward to up­co­m­ing per­for­man­ces across the UK.

The Ar­c­hai Trio has been stu­dy­ing with Clau­dio Mar­tí­nez Meh­ner at the Ba­sel Mu­sic Aca­de­my sin­ce 2023. It has also worked with re­now­ned ar­tists such as Pa­tri­cia Ko­patchin­ska­ja, Alex­an­der Lon­quich, Ro­bert Le­vin, Zol­tán Fe­jérvá­ri, Dan­ju­lo Is­hi­za­ka and Rai­ner Schmidt. The en­sem­ble is a mem­ber of the Cham­ber­Stu­dio in Lon­don, whe­re it is coa­ched by cel­list John My­ers­cough.

The name Ar­c­hai (pro­noun­ced "Ark-eye") re­fers on the one hand to the spi­rits of per­so­na­li­ty, but as the plu­ral of "Ark" in an­ci­ent Greek phi­lo­so­phy, it also re­fers to the be­gin­ning of the world. It is in­ten­ded to stand for the origins of the three mu­si­ci­ans with roots in Scot­land, Tur­key, Spain, Ire­land and Ger­ma­ny, their princi­ples and their de­si­re to de­ve­lop fur­ther tog­e­ther.