The award winning Trio Archai has quickly established itself as one of the most exciting young ensembles of its generation. Founded in Basel in 2023, the trio has quickly gained international recognition through winning First Prize and Beethoven Prize at the Schoenfeld International String Competition 2025 in China, and First Prize at the 72nd Royal Over-Seas League Competition 2024 in London.

Their performances have taken them to prestigious venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Tivoli Vredenburg, St. George’s Bristol, Schaffhausen Klassik, Harbin Cultural Center, Swiss Chamber Music Festival, and Whittington Festival. As Britten Pears Young Artists 2025/26, they will take up a residency at Snape Maltings. Winners of the Tunnell Trust Concert Scheme 2025/26, they are also laureates of the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition.

The trio’s repertoire spans the great works of the piano trio canon alongside a strong commitment to contemporary music. Alongside programming works by the leading voices of today, they premiered two new commissions in the 2024/25 season: ‘Triangulum’ by Dominic Röthlisberger (Swiss Chamber Music Festival, supported by Pro Helvetia and Fondation SUISA) and ‘Nocturnes’ by Jeremy Sams (Whittington Festival).

Mar Valor (piano), Ayla Sahin (violin), and Finn Mannion (cello) met at the Musik Akademie Basel, where they study as a trio with Claudio Martínez Mehner, Rainer Schmidt, Anna Gebert, and Anton Kernjak. They have benefited from the guidance of eminent artists such as Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Alexander Lonquich, Alina Ibragimova, Dénes Várjon, Robert Levin, Zoltán Fejérvári, and Danjulo Ishizaka. They are members of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), ChamberStudio London, scholarship holders of Jeunesse Musicales Deutschland and were selected to join Thomas Adès’s class at IMS Prussia Cove 2025.

The name Archai (pronounced “Ark-ai”), from the Ancient Greek for “origins” or “first principles,” reflects the ensemble’s shared musical values and their commitment to grow together.

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© Trio Archai 2025