Evelina Petrova Trio's debut album, First Dance, is the meeting between Russian folk songs interpreted by Russian Evelina Petrova on accordion and vocals, Norwegian folk music on hardening fiddle played by Canadian Laura Ellestad and soundscapes and Nordic jazz from the trombone and effect pedals to Norwegian Andreas Rotevatn.
First Dance was recorded in the one-room studio at the Department of Traditional Arts and Traditional Music in Rauland, mixed and produced by Andreas Rotevatn, and mastered by Audun Strype. The physical album features artwork by Russian artist Nikolay Sazhin.
The Oslo-based trio met during graduate studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music. This unique collaboration between three artists from the jazz, folk music, and music technology departments took the form of an experimental lab in which everything was permitted, and all possible combinations were tested. At their first rehearsal, the trio was already certain that they were on the trail of something unique.Evelina Petrova (b. 1974) from Russia has previously performed extensively with Misha Alperin. She has also performed with Jethro Tull, and in 1999 she received the Star of the Year award in Russia. Laura Ellestad (b. 1982) moved to Norway from Canada in 2008 to pursue an education in Norwegian Hardanger fiddle music. Among other things, this resulted in a nomination for a Norwegian Grammy Award (Spellemannprisen) in the traditional music category in 2014 for the solo album Valdresspel i Amerika, and a PhD fellowship at the Norwegian Academy of Music, with a research focus on the Norwegian folk music milieu in America. Andreas Rotevatn (b. 1989) is involved in a number of projects spanning several musical genres. Among other things, he performs with the traditional jazz band Ytre Suloens Jass- Ensemble, with hip-hop artist Cezinando, and in the composer orchestra OJKOS.
