Experience the classical elite at Troldhaugen

Tradition and innovation work together in the Festival’s series of concerts in Troldsalen and the  homes of Edvard Grieg, Ole Bull and Harald Sæverud next year. The 25 concerts have been planned for a long time, and the list of artists is topped by Dutch star violinist Janine Jansen, who will be performing in Troldsalen together with young musicians from the mentor programme Crescendo and musicians with instruments on loan from Dextra Musica and the Sveaas foundation (ASAF). Anne Sofie von Otter, Kathryn Stott and Isabelle van Keulen are also on the list of great artists who will be visiting Bergen in May/June 2017.

‘The annual series of concerts in Troldsalen and the composers’ homes is a long and rich Festival tradition. We want to take care of and honour this tradition by revitalising it. In Troldsalen you can literally see the rosin slide of the bow. Chamber music is created for intimate venues, and experiencing performing artists such as these up close in an historical environment will be quite something’, says Festival director Anders Beyer.

The Festival director is grateful to violinist and professor Peter Herresthal for the inspiring collaboration in the work with this concert series.

Sparebankstiftelsen DNB – Dextra Musica will provide considerable financial support for the concerts in Troldsalen and the composers’ homes over the next three festivals. This support comes in addition to that received from Anders Sveaas’ Charitable Foundation (ASAF), earmarked for Festival concerts in the KODE composers’ homes for the period of 2015–2019.

‘Our ambition is to ensure that as many people as possible can both perform and listen to first-rate classical music. Talent development is important to us, and this gives many of the great talents an opportunity to perform at our most important venues for classical music’, says Anders Bjørnsen, managing director of the art collection and Dextra Musica.

In addition to works from the international standard repertoire, the 2017 Festival programme will present many Norwegian works as a part of the celebration of the Norwegian Society of Composers’ 100th year.

‘With the support of Dextra Musica, the Festival has created a great programme for the composers’ homes, with an increased number of concerts and artists at a high international level. We are especially excited about the series of concerts in Troldsalen which, after many upgrades in recent years, has become one of the world’s greatest chamber music venues’, says Sigurd Sandmo, director of KODE’s composers’ homes.

Janine Jansen & CrescendoWorks by Mendelssohn and Schostakovich in an octet with Crescendo, Dextra and Sveaas musicians.

Tomter, Kam & HadlandLars Anders Tomter (viola), Sharon Kam (clarinet) and Christian Ihle Hadland (piano) perform works by Grieg, Brahms and Mozart.

Anne Sofie von Otter & Brooklyn Rider Swedish mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter will, together with New York string quartet Brooklyn Rider, perform works from the project So Many Things. The music is written by classical composers and pop artists such as Elvis Costello, Björk and Rufus Wainwright. Several musicians and ensembles will perform works by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who is the 2017 Festival composer and Artist in Residence. She will also be present at several concerts: Vertavo String Quartet will performNymphéa, and 1B1 Ensemble and Nordlyd Kvartett will play different versions of Terra Memoria. British pianist Kathryn Stott will perform Ballad for solo piano.

At Ole Bull’s fairytale castle at Lysøen, Dutch violinist Isabelle van Keulen and Kathryn Stott will perform French works for violin and piano alongside works by Lysøen’s previous owner. Violinist Camilla Kjøll is accompanied by pianist Gunilla Süssmann, and will also be performing Bull works.

The tickets for these concerts will be available to buy on 01 December, when the full classical concert programme of the 2017 Festival is launched.