Grieghallen – The Main Festival Hall

The Grieg Hall is the festival's main venue and houses the traditional opening performance every single year. With its iconic location by Lille Lungegårdsvann and several concert halls adapted for both symphony concerts and performing arts performances, as well as smaller halls for more intimate moments, the Grieg Hall offers high-class experiences.

At home in the Grieg Hall since 1978

The Bergen International Festival was actually one of the founders of the Grieg Hall in its time and has been inextricably linked to the venue for almost 50 years. On the opening day of the 1968 Bergen International Festival, King Olav laid the foundation stone for the Grieg Hall, and construction began. A copper box with the architect's original drawings, the newspapers of the day and some Norwegian coins were bricked into what was to become the orchestra pit. It would take ten long years to complete the building, and it was not until May 1978 that Harmonien could perform in front of the people of Bergen on this beautiful stage.

The Grieg Hall's venues

The Grieg Hall – the magnificent main hall

The Grieg Hall is the Grieg Hall's main hall with room for 1,635 seated audience members. With its excellent acoustics, it is the natural home for orchestral concerts, operas and large performances that require the highest level of stage technique. Here, you can experience the Festival's opening performance and many of the festival's biggest performances.

The Peer Gynt Hall – artist and audience in close proximity

The Peer Gynt hall is a flexible black box stage, which houses both concerts and performances, where the audience gets close to the artists. At the Bergen International Festival, the hall has 430 seats. The Peer Gynt hall has been completely renovated.

Klokkeklang – an intimate acoustic experience

The smaller hall, Klokkeklang, usually hosts performances for children and young people at the Festival. The hall is named after Edvard Grieg's piano piece of the same name, which was the last part of Lyrical Pieces Book 5, and imitated cowbells and church bells.

Spissen – a creative meeting place

Spissen, which has a beautiful glass façade from floor to ceiling, serves as a natural meeting place before performances and during breaks. The traditional concert series Stikk innom, which began as a collaboration with the Bergen International Festival through the first edition of the festival on 24 May 1974, is also held in Spissen.

How to get to the Grieg Hall?

The Grieg Hall's address

The Grieg Hall is located at Edvard Griegs Plass 1, centrally located in Bergen city centre with good accessibility.

Transport to the Grieg Hall

We encourage the public to leave their cars behind and use public transport to the city centre – both for the sake of the environment and to avoid parking challenges.

See skyss.no for up-to-date timetables and departure times. Bergen City Bike is a quick, easy and environmentally friendly way to get to the show, and you will find bicycle parking right outside the main entrance.

Accessibility in the Grieg Hall

For wheelchair users

All venues are fully wheelchair accessible. In the Grieg Hall, wheelchair spaces should be booked in advance as there are a limited number of fixed seats at numbered events. The Peer Gynt Hall and Klokkeklang mainly have unnumbered seating with movable seats, so a separate ticket is not necessary for wheelchair users there.

Lifts and disabled restrooms

The Grieg Hall has a lift between all floors and a disabled restroom available in the building.

Assistive devices for the hearing impaired

The Grieg Hall is equipped with infrared distribution of sound, and sound-amplifying loops can be borrowed free of charge at the main entrance by contacting our attendant. We encourage the hearing impaired to take advantage of this offer during performances. Unfortunately, this system is not available in the Peer Gynt Hall and Klokkeklang.