Ragnhild Hemsing & the Trondheim Soloists

Ragnhild Hemsing and TrondheimSolistene visit Håkonshallen with Edvard Grieg's music performed on Hardanger fiddle, violin and string orchestra.

'Edvard Grieg said the suite was inspired by Norwegian folk music. With that in mind, my wish throughout this project is to dive deeper in Grieg's Peer Gynt music and examine the exciting place where folk music and art music meet,' says Ragnhild Hemsing. Through her formative years she played art music and folk music side by side, and has always been fascinated by the similarities and contrasts in performance styles and sound pictures.

'This is what I want to accentuate here with the Peer Gynt music in a new guise. The understrings are the very heart of the Hardanger fiddle, and resonating constantly as they do, I think they give rise to intriguing tone colours,' Ragnhild explains, and continues, 'The theme at the beginning of Morning corresponds with the tuning of Hardanger fiddle understrings. We are also familiar with Peasant Dances op. 72, in which Grieg arranged Hardanger fiddle tunes played by master fiddler Knut Dale for piano solo.'

For this concert in Håkonshallen Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites no. 1 and 2 (op. 46 and 55) have for the first time been arranged specifically for string orchestra with solo Hardanger fiddle and violin.

'I greatly appreciate collaborating with TrondheimSolistene, an eminent string orchestra I have enjoyed playing with several times before, and Tormod Tvete Vik has arranged the music beautifully,' says Ragnhild Hemsing.

Information

By launching performances and artists as they are confirmed, the Festival would like to draw attention to the work our wonderful artists do, while knowing that the final festival programme may look different because of the pandemic.

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