Star pianist Víkingur Ólafsson joins the orchestra in Grieg’s Piano Concerto, in a concert which also features Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances
}The Scotman, Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances at Edinburgh International Festival, August 2022‘Gardner’s pacing was spot on as he steered the piece to its heady climax’
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Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s European tour in summer 2022, its first outside Norway since 2019, resulted in critically acclaimed concerts in Edinburgh, Bremen and Copenhagen. In February 2023 the orchestra and its Chief Conductor Edward Gardner will be on the road again for a seven-date tour of central Europe which will also include a performance at Antwerp’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on 16 February, as part of royal concert organization COFENA’s concert series. It will mark the orchestra’s first visit to Belgium since 1984 and its second ever performance in Antwerp since playing there in 1973.
The programme in Antwerp will see the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Gardner start with the rarely heard Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak, composed by Grieg and arranged by Johan Halvorsen, two composers who lived in Bergen and had a long association with the orchestra. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, with whom the orchestra also enjoys a close relationship, will be the soloist in Grieg’s Piano Concerto, while Rachmaninov’s kaleidoscopic, adrenaline-inducing Symphonic Dances will complete the programme.
Chief Conductor Edward Gardner, who has been at the helm of one of the world’s oldest symphony orchestras since 2015, commented: “I love making music with my amazing orchestra, now joined by the wonderful soloist Víkingur Ólafsson for our upcoming tour. He is a visionary artist who will make a profound impact with his remarkable musicianship.“
“Chief Conductor Edward Gardner will lead exciting and varied programmes,” said the orchestra’s CEO Bernt Bauge. “Gardner and the orchestra have worked closely with Víkingur Ólafsson, and he was soloist with the orchestra on our last tour to Germany, performing the Grieg and Schumann concertos. The orchestra performed in Antwerp only once fifty years ago and we’re much looking forward to returning there in February as part of our tour”.
Thursday 16 February 2023, 8pm
Koningin Elisabethzaal, Antwerp
Event link
Edward Gardner conductor | Víkingur Ólafsson piano | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Grieg (arr. Johan Halvorsen) Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak
Grieg Piano Concerto
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances