Opening Concert

Tine Thing Helseth invites you to a spectacular opening with Haydn and Schumann, among others. Welcome to Risør Chamber Music Festival 2026!

Date
Time
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Risør kirke
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Risør kirkes spir
Foto: Liv Øvland

About the concert

We start with style, and we start spectacularly: Tine's trumpet solo and Haydn's Piano Trio No. 43 are worth the admission price alone.

But we raise the stakes with the second movement from Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto and Respighi's sunset music.

The opening concert kicks off what we believe is a fantastic week of classical music. Come and see for yourself where we've set the bar for this year's chamber music festival.

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Concert program

Nadia Boulanger: Cantique

Nadia Boulanger: Cantique (1909)

Tine Thing Helseth opens this year's festival in her beloved tradition. Experience how one of the world's most acclaimed trumpeters, with her utterly distinctive sound, fills the entire church and sets the tone for the opening concert.

Performers:

  • Tine Thing Helseth, trumpet
  • Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio No. 43

Joseph Haydn: Piano Trio No. 43 in C major, Hob.XV:27, 'Trio Bohémo' (1784–85)

  1. Allegro
  2. Andante
  3. Finale: Presto

This year's festival highlights Joseph Haydn and his role in developing what we today understand as Classical music. This work is one of Haydn's most demanding and virtuosic piano pieces. It was published in 1797 as the first in a series of three written for the remarkable pianist of the era, Therese Jansen Bartolozzi.

Performers:

  • Johan Dalene, violin
  • Victor Julien-Laferrière, cello
  • Håvard Gimse, piano
Clara Schumann: 2nd movement from the Piano Concerto

Clara Schumann: 2nd movement from Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7 (1833–35)

  • Romanze: Andante non troppo con grazia

Clara's only piano concerto, written when she was 16 and still called by her birth name Wieck. Premiered in Leipzig in 1835, and conducted by none other than Felix Mendelssohn.

Performers:

  • Alexandra Dariescu, piano
  • Frida Fredrikke Wærvågen, cello
Frank Bridge: Lament for Two Violas

Frank Bridge: Lament for Two Violas, H.101b (1911–12)

Lament was originally written for two violas in 1912, in the wake of the Titanic disaster. The work is one of Bridge's most moving compositions – a melancholic dialogue between two equal voices weaving together in grief and beauty.

Performers:

  • Lilli Maijala, viola
  • Eivind Ringstad, viola
Maurice Ravel: From the Sonata for Violin and Cello

Maurice Ravel: From Sonata for Violin and Cello in A minor, M.73 (1920–22)

  1. Allegro
  2. Très vif

Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello is one of his most radical chamber works. Composed as a memorial piece for Debussy, it explores the limits of what two string instruments can create together – from intense dialogues to almost orchestral soundscapes.

Performers:

  • Alena Baeva, violin
  • Victor Julien-Laferrière, cello
Ottorino Respighi: Il Tramonto

Ottorino Respighi: Il Tramonto, 'The Sunset' (1914)

Il Tramonto is a 'poemetto lirico' (lyric poem) for soprano and string quartet, written in 1914 to text by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The work is intense, with delicate timbres and a narrative, almost scenic quality. It is considered an early highlight in Respighi's vocal music.

Performers:

  • Mari Eriksmoen, soprano
  • Schumann Quartet, string quartet

Composers

Komponist Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) was a French teacher, conductor, and composer. She stopped composing after her sister Lili's death in 1918. The first woman to conduct major orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic and Boston Symphony, she taught for seven decades. The most influential composition teacher of the 20th century, her 1,200+ students included Copland, Bernstein, Piazzolla, Philip Glass, and Quincy Jones. Her students became known as the 'Boulangerie.'

Komponist Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was an Austrian composer who spent 30 years with the Esterházy noble family. A friend of Mozart and teacher of Beethoven, he composed 107 symphonies, 83 string quartets, and the oratorio The Creation. Called "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet," he shaped and consolidated the Classical forms. His foundational role in establishing the symphony and string quartet makes him essential to understanding classical and chamber music. Haydn is this year's composer in focus at Risør Chamber Music Festival.

Komponist Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann (1819–1896) was a German pianist and composer. She married Robert Schumann in 1840 and had eight children, and a close friend of Johannes Brahms. A child prodigy who debuted at nine, she became one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era with a 61-year career. She was first to perform from memory, and composed a piano concerto, chamber music, and songs. She preserved Robert's legacy and is now recognized as a major composer in her own right.

Komponist Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was a French composer of Swiss-Basque descent. His final years were clouded by aphasia that prevented him from composing or speaking. A master orchestrator known for superb craftsmanship, he composed Boléro, Daphnis et Chloé, piano concertos, and the famous orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Combining clarity with elements of impressionism, neoclassicism, and jazz, he remains France's most popular composer, influencing Vaughan Williams and de Falla.

Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge

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Ottorino Respighi

Ottorino Respighi

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Artists