2020v2 Program Theme

Closeness

We’re living in strange times, and one of the most difficult things to relate to is unpredictability. The level of risk, which steps must be taken or called off, where and when. An odd mix of forced necessity and breezy experimentation. But that our lives have been turned upside down, is for certain.

Individually and within families; grandparents unable to spend time with grandchildren. In society nationally and globally, on a human and economic level.  One of the most counterintuitive precautions is that we must demonstrate togetherness by distancing; chew on that.

With Fjord Classics having to recast its programme on a fundamental level due to travel restrictions between countries and directives concerning minimum distances for performers and public, we’re taking the opportunity to give our audience something we have extra need of at the moment: That which is close, heartfelt, warm, familiar.

We have turned to the Romantic Period: Brahms, Schumann and our own Grieg. Whereas musical and spiritual life of earlier times had man’s relationship with God and fate as an important theme, it’s the relationship of human beings with each other that becomes the essential feature of the 1800s.

Noen bautaer av kokende, lidenskapelige, heftige og begeistrede følelser danner søylen i årets program: Griegs store strykekvartett, Brahms’ og Schumanns klaverkvintetter. Dertil Mozarts geniale stryketrio med den tilforlatelige tittelen Divertimento. Communicative angels in jovial-serious discourse, hovering between Heaven and Earth. 

We have had to confine ourselves within the country’s borders when it comes to musicians, but in today’s Norway this by no means involves a compromise of level; we are blessed in having a multitude of top international musicians right here!  At the piano we’re fortunate enough to be joined by the eminent Håvard Gimse as well as young Marina Kan Selvik, who is the only artist from the original programme on the bill. Henning Kraggerud and Guro Kleven Hagen are brilliant violinists, with the whole world as their stage, Norway their homeland. Cellist Sandra Lied Haga har vært hos Fjord Classics før og står akkurat nå på dørstokken til en internasjonal karriere med sin fantastiske CD-innspilling av Dvoraks cellokonsert og Tsjaikovskijs Rokokkovariasjoner, sentrale referanseverker der internasjonal presse allerede har plassert henne blant de beste. Det skal sies at hun har vært internasjonalt aktiv og blitt lagt merke til i en årrekke allerede, sin unge alder til tross.

To strålende sangere vil også gjeste oss; Halvor Melien som er en godt etablert lied- og oratoriesanger, aktiv over hele Europa, og Marita Sølbergwho has made hair stand on end in numerous opera performances.

This year we had planned to launch our youthful chamber orchestra Fjord Festival Strings, but this must now be postponed until next year. But here we’re also talking about great talent on an individual level which is guaranteed to delight and impress. They’ll be presented in smaller chamber music groups at lunchtime concerts at The Note Café and Music Bar som nylig flyttet inn i splitter nye lokaler. Vi gleder oss!

Throughout these last months a lot of creativity has been demonstrated in the way music has been shared, with performances from balconies and streaming of concerts, some spontaneous, others more technologically involved and planned. With the Fjord Classics festival this summer we’ve chosen a slightly different angle. We know we’re able to organize concerts, currently for up to 200, space permitting. We’ll be engaging a film team to film the concerts; these will be high-quality and costly productions. Thank you to all the contributors who have allowed us to reallocate our resources in this way! Alongside the concert productions we want to document the festival atmosphere, musicians and audience, the surroundings and not least these strange times we’re living through.

Right now, we have need of beauty and depth, perhaps more than quick solutions.

We welcome you to rich and outstanding listening experiences in Sandefjord! 

Lars Anders Tomter and Camilla Kjøll
Artistic Directors