Scene one could have been taken from the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead: Henrik Hellstenius is relieved; he has found himself a new Hamlet. The Norwegian composer is currently working on a new production of his opera Ophelias: Death by Water Singing. Suddenly, with only a little more than two weeks to go before the premiere, the prince fell ill!
Norwegian conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen makes professional musicians rediscover the quintessential joy of playing, and makes audiences come alive to play their part in the sacred communication of a perfect concert. Critics hail the young Norwegian as a rare music maker, and in Hanover the season is sold out even before the new chief conductor has taken up his post.
Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes ranks among the leading classical performers of our time. He is not only brilliant; there is something more, something different about him: he is free. He has transcended the artistic ideal of the immense effort that culminates in the breathtaking performance. Instead he breathes.
Some people have a special presence even on the phone. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Vilde Frang is such a person, because the twenty two-year-old Norwegian violin virtuoso has spellbound audiences around the world with her charismatic stage-presence and musical exuberance.
Norwegian saxophone player Bendik Hofseth first made a name for himself more than twenty years ago when he joined one of the super groups of jazz, the New York-based Steps Ahead. In the 90s he moved on to a diverse solo career that comprised pure pop albums as well as more conceptual outings, shifting between musical genres and expressions as well as language.
Works by some of Norway’s most prominent composers are in an appalling state; MIC Norway takes action and launches a rescue mission.