New King Oedipus
(5/22/2011)
Due to illness, Andreas Conrad was forced to resign from the title role in the Bergen International Festival opening performance of Oedipus Rex. After a few nerve-wracking days a new King Oedipus has been found.
200 Young Musicians from Caracas to the Bergen International Festival
(5/8/2011)
Caracas Youth Symphony Orchestra is internationally acclaimed thanks to El Sistema, the Venezuelan state music education system, which provides free tuition to over 400 000 young people, many of them from deprived areas. In Norway the orchestra will perform alongside an equal number of youngsters from Norway’s Arts schools nationwide.
Rocking the casbah
(3/28/2011)
Kamel El Harrachi has played to full houses in France and impressed audiences with his mix of afrobeat and Arab pop. Now, North Africa’s latest star comes to Norway for the very first time.
- The music itself tells me what to do
(3/24/2011)
Born in Moscow in 1971, Evgeny Kissin began playing the piano at the age of two. He came to international recognition at the age of 12, performing Chopin’s piano concertos in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic, under the baton of Dmitri Kitaenko.
Bringing Farinelli to life
(3/21/2011)
Conductor Christophe Rousset has yet to make members of the audience faint, but is sure to have both film and early music fans swooning when he and his Les Talens Lyriques finally go on tour with the music of Farinelli.
Focus on concert theatre
(2/22/2011)
Bergen International Festival has engaged composer Henrik Hellstenius as curator for a series of concert performances at this year’s festival. This unique project involving more than 30 musicians will explore the dividing line between music and theatre. The series of concerts, which have been given the title ‘The Theatre of the Ear’, is Bergen International Festival’s biggest ever venture into the world of contemporary music.
Playing with the national heritage
(2/3/2011)
Numerous theatre productions and films have been based on Halldór Laxness’s books, but until now Gerpla had been neither staged nor filmed. Baltazar Kormákur felt it was a daring challenge, but the Iceland National Theatre production has been a great success in Reykjavik.
The Flame of Ole Bull
(1/18/2011)
The Norwegian violin virtuoso of the 19th Century, Ole Bull played to crowds in the tens of thousands on his tours of Europe and the USA. Robert Schumann called him ‘the greatest of all’ and his friend Franz Liszt performed with him on several occasions.
Marthaler meets Greenland
(1/18/2011)
The Bergen International Festival has joined forces with a number of other European cultural institutions to create a new musical theatre performance with Greenland as the starting point. This production has been titled ±0, and will be staged by Swiss director Christoph Marthaler.
Programme 2011 is launched
(1/13/2011)
Bergen International Festival presents a varied programme of concerts and new theatrical productions, including productions form Greenland, Iceland and China. The relationship between tradition and innovation across generations is a recurring theme this year.
– Fosse’s plays are what the world needs
(12/17/2010)
This autumn a Chinese audience could experience Norway's greatest contemporary playwright for the very first time. The production is now coming to Bergen.
Let yourself be captivated!
(12/17/2010)
You’re invited to spend a night in the old Bergen county jail during the 2011 Festival. The building has been empty for twenty years. – The prison and the stories in its walls create a unique setting for experiencing art, says Festival Director Per Boye Hansen.
Oedipus Rex to open Bergen International Festival 2011
(6/28/2010)
Stravinsky’s monumental opera-oratorio from 1927 is counted among the greatest operas of the twentieth century. During the 2011 Bergen International Festival it will be performed in full stage version in Grieghallen, with the Norwegian Eirik Stubø as its director.
The Bergen International Festival draws its bow
(6/14/2010)
On the final day of the 2010 festival, the director launched a new project. From next year the final days of the festival will be devoted to a grand festival for string players in the spirit of Ole Bull.
Hats off to the opening ceremony
(5/23/2010)
The Festival opening is both ceremony, artistic teaser and an opportunity for extravagant headwear. At least according to host Marit Voldsæter – currently choosing appropriate hats for the event.
Stories of suffering
(5/23/2010)
Controversial Catalan director Calixto Bieito returns to the Bergen International Festival with Voices – a modern passion, a performance about suffering and its natural place in the world.
Daring to jump
(5/23/2010)
They say that life is not a circus. Tilde Björfors would object.
Bergen - the black metal capital
(5/4/2010)
Bergen is known for being the black metal capital of Norway. It might be due to the heavy rain, but Kristian Espedal (Gaahl), whom is currently rehearsing for the first black metal musical, explains:
Holberg Prize laureate to meet Jo Strømgren
(4/13/2010)
Historian Natalie Zemon Davis will discuss the relationship between art and science with choreographer Jo Strømgren when she visits Bergen to receive the Holberg Prize.
Festspiele 2010
(3/29/2010)
Hell und lang sind die späten Frühlingstage in Norwegen, einem Land, das bekannt dafür ist, das Leben aus einer ‚bewundernswert erhellten’ Perspektive zu betrachten – wie seine blühende Musik- und Theaterszene zeigt. 2010 präsentieren sich die Festspiele Bergen jedoch auch von einer düsteren Seite.
Mehr
Koyaanisqatsi to open the festival
(1/22/2010)
Philip Glass Ensemble and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra open the 2010 Bergen International Festival with a cult film and live music. The performance will be the European premiere of the orchestral version of Koyaanisqatsi.
The 2010 programme released
(1/19/2010)
Festival director Per Boye Hansen hosted a programme launch where showmanship and acrobatics were center stage.
Calixto Bieito returns
(1/19/2010)
Calixto Bieito is the man behind the world premiere of a modern passion during the 2010 Bergen International Festival. – This is a performance about the death and life angst of our time, he says.
Free seminar: Ole Bull Celebration
(1/14/2010)
Specialists on string instruments from all over the world will gather in the city for the Festival and our instrument exhibition will feature lectures by renowned violin experts.
International interest
(1/12/2010)
‘The Bergen International Festival sends strong signals to the established centres of art in old Europe. The new comes now more than ever from the periphery,’ writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
In Grieg's home
(1/7/2010)
'Every single day I take the train to the villa and back. All my ideas get used up there, masses of unborn works are devoured by the soil. When you eventually come to visit, you will only need to dig and Norwegian choirs, orchestras and piano works will come flowing up from the ground.’ Edvard Grieg.
Witch-haunts and the magic of love
(1/7/2010)
The Bergen International Festival, Den Nye Opera (the New Opera) and the Norwegian Armed Forces Band, Western Norway combine forces to produce a large-scale opera during the 2010 festival in the beautiful surroundings of the historic parade ground at Bergenhus Fortress.
Welcome to Bergen in May
(1/6/2010)
The late spring days are long in Norway, a country that tends to take an admirably enlightened view on life – as its thriving music and theatre scenes demonstrate; but in 2010 there will be a dark side to Bergen International Festival.
Fright and delight
(12/28/2009)
Fright and delight are keywords for this year's festival program, writes the Festival Director, Per Boye Hansen.