Who We Are
Trio Aido is composed of the soprano, Kaho Inoue and the lutenists, Simon Vander Plaetse and Talitha-Cumi Witmer. They met while studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and share a unique friendship and a common philosophy for life and music making.
The word Aido means “to sing” in the ancient Greek language. The imitation of vocal expression by singing on instruments is the underlying idea that forms music throughout the Renaissance and Baroque. Trio Aido was named in reference to this ancient philosophy which holds singing as the highest art of expression given to humanity.
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Trio Aido has performed a wide repertoire including English Renaissance and Baroque music, Italian Monodia, and sacred music of the French and German Baroque. They have received coaching from Peter Croton, Julian Behr, Elizabeth Kanny, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Dr. Anna Marie Dragosits, and Evelyn Tubb. They were selected for the artistic residence program of the 2022 ECOS Festival, in Sierra Espuna, Spain. In the summer of 2023 they released their first CD “Songs shining with Life”, and performed a concert tour in Japan. In 2024, they performed in Mimiko (Switzerland), Blansinger Konzertreihe (Germany), Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival (Netherlands), and GuitarPlus (Switzerland).
The Members
Simon Vander Plaetse
Theorbo, Lute, Baroque Guitar
Originally from Belgium, the lutenist Simon Vander Plaetse began his studies in Basel, Switzerland. He studied guitar with Prof. Stephan Schmidt and Pino Feola at the Hochschule für Musik Basel, and theorbo/lute with Peter Croton at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He completed a Performance Master’s Degree in early music at the Schola in 2024 and is currently studying with Xavier Diaz-Latorre.
He has experience playing continuo in different formations including the Bach Akademie Alden Biesen, La Strada Armonica, and Crescendo Barockensemble and played the guitar part in the opera ‘Il Barbiere de Sevilla’ in the Theater Basel. He has participated in ensemble playing lessons from renowned early music players such as Julian Behr and Amandine Beyer and has taken masterclasses from lutenists Paul O’Dette, Nigel North, Elizabeth Kenny, and Yasunori Imamura.
Talitha-Cumi Witmer
Theorbo, Lute, Archlute
The American-Korean lutenist, Talitha-Cumi Witmer, is a founding member of Casulana Lute Consort, Ensemble Dulcissime, and Trio Aido, with which their debut CD was released in July 2023. Her performances have included performing at some major Early Music festivals such as Utrecht Early Music, Modena Grandezze, Meraviglie Festival Musicale Estense, and Festival de musique Baroque d'Ambronay. She performs across Europe and in Japan and USA.
Talitha was 9 when she first heard a lute on a CD and immediately fell in love with its sound. Her dream to study the lute was then realized at the age of 13, when she began her formal studies on the instrument in Tokyo.
After studying the renaissance lute and theorbo under Joachim Held and Mike Fentross at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, she obtained lute pedagogy at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under Peter Croton. She receives coaching from Dr. Marc Lewon on plectrum lute and interpretation. She enjoys playing a wide range of music from Early Renaissance to Baroque, and plays renaissance consort lutes, baroque lute, theorbo, archlute, as well as vihuela. As a soloist, she currently focuses on repertoire for the 11-course baroque lute.
Kaho Inoue
Soprano
The Japanese soprano Kaho Inoue obtained her Bachelor’s degree for classical singing in Tokyo University of the Arts under Prof. Eiko Hiramatsu. She then studied Early Music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and obtained a Bachelor’s degree under Ulrich Messthaler and Master’s degree under Ulrike Hofbauer. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree for pedagogy in the class of Carlos Mena.
She participated in the masterclasses of Collegium Vocale Gent with Philippe Herwege, Les Arts Florissants with William Christie, Zutphen Akademie with Emma Kirkby and Peter Kooji, as well as with Monika Mauch (Strasbourg) and Lea Serafini (San Marino).
As a soloist she performed several cantatas and motets with orchestra in Switzerland and Japan.
She is passionate about chamber music. As part of Trio Aido an ensemble consisting of two lute players and soprano, she joined ECOS Festival 2022 (Spain) and a Japan tour in 2023. She also performed concerts with lutenists Francesca Torelli and Yasunori Imamura who are active performers and conservatory professors.
She is a member of La Cetra (Basel), Vocale Collegium Gent (Belgium) and Balthasar Neumann Choir (Germany).