Bergen International Festival: Crescendo!

Through the Crescendo mentoring programme young Norwegian artists on the cusp of an international career have had the opportunity to rehearse and perform with established musicians in what might be considered a continual master class. One result has been a series of chamber music highlights at the Bergen International Festival over the last few years, to the pleasure of mentors, participants and audiences alike.

In Håkonshallen a fair number of current and former Crescendo participants are gathered for this concert with the programme’s principal mentor Leif Ove Andsnes.

The concert starts with Janáček’s Pohádka (Fairy Tale) for Piano and Cello, followed by two world premieres: two sonatas for Piano and Tuba, one by Gotthard Odermatt; the other by Harald Ramm Haugland, who performs in the concert himself. The percussion duo PERCelleh performs a toccata by the Danish composer Anders Koppel.

After the interval comes Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quintet, with Leif Ove Andsnes at the piano. Its themes inspired by folk music have endeared the work to many.