7-10 July 2022
“When we talk about Beethoven we tend to focus on the grand, the struggle, the revolutionary. Yet there is also so much tenderness, humour and ambiguity in his music. My hope is that we will experience the outstanding diversity of this extraordinary composer during the 2022 Rosendal Festival.”
The 2022 Rosendal Chamber Music Festival celebrates the music of Ludwig van Beethoven in the beautiful and remote setting of Norway’s west coast fjords. Founder and Artistic Director, Leif Ove Andsnes, is joined by over twenty guest artists and speakers who will offer audiences a glimpse into the composer’s diverse world.
“It was with great sadness that we had to cancel our Beethoven anniversary celebrations in 2020” says Leif Ove Andsnes, “and I am delighted that many of the artists who were invited to perform two years ago, are at last able to join me in Rosendal. Over four days we shall explore a wide range of repertoire from all periods of Beethoven’s life, including works that are both famous and seldom heard, iconic and intimate, with the aim of unravelling the inner world of Beethoven.”
Joining Leif Ove Andsnes on stage from 7 – 10 July are four fellow pianists – Vikingur Ólafsson, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Enrico Pace and Sveinung Bjelland – as well as Dorothea Röschmann and Hilde Haraldsen Sveen (soprano), Quatour Van Kuijk, Alina Ibragimova and Antje Weithaas (violin), Henninge Landaas (viola), Christian Poltéra and Tanja Tetzlaff (cello), Callum Hay Jennings (double bass), Håkon Asheim (Hardanger fiddle), Ingrid Søfteland Neset (flute), Bjørn Nyman (clarinet), Sebastian Stevensson (bassoon), Ragnhild Lothe (horn) and lecturers Jan Swafford, Gunilla Sussmann and Gunnar Danbolt. The music from our time will be represented by two generations of playful and fascinating personalities from Western Norway, composer Ketil Hvoslef and composer/saxophonist Marius Neset, whilst this year’s exhibition is dedicated to Norwegian artist Olav Christopher Jenssen.
During the Festival iconic works such as the Kreutzer and Pathétique Sonatas and the String Quartets Op. 59 will be performed alongside some of Beethoven’s lesser-known compositions, including the Fantasy for Piano, op 77, the four-hand piano arrangement of the Grosse Fuge op 133 and a selection of his songs.
“There is no composer like Beethoven who had such development during his own life-time” says Leif Ove Andsnes. “Hearing the Cello Sonatas Op. 5 and 102 alongside each other is like listening to different worlds, yet both the early and late works give us the immediate feeling of having to listen. As if something important is being told to us.”
With its remote backdrop, surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and fjords, Rosendal is the ideal place for an intimate musical experience. “The four day experience of this music festival is indescribable” wrote Asia Music Weekly. ”With the backdrop of such wonderful scenery, the festival is somehow augmented by a deeper concentration of the theme and the high level of performance.” Radio Klassik (Austria) commented: “They exist – special places with their own special atmospheres. Stories and impressions which you treasure and take back home with you” to which La Repubblica (Italy) added “and on that list you can introduce Rosendal … a chamber music festival rich and precious for the quality of the performers and for the depth of the themed programmes.”
The Rosendal Chamber Music Festival extends deep thanks to the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Foundation, whose meaningful financial support has made the festival’s ambitious artistic goals attainable.
