Sunday 24 May 2020

Grieg's piano concerto in A minor is often called the Festival's signature work, and has been played at almost every festival since its inception in 1953.

This year, the soloist is Víkingur Ólafsson, an up-and-coming Icelandic pianist who this spring received rave reviews for his latest album. "Meet the new superstar of classical piano", wrote the British newspaper The Telegraph. With continued restrictions on international travel, Ólafsson cannot come to Bergen and Grieghallen as originally planned. In close collaboration with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Edward Gardner, he therefore plays the soloist voice from his home town of Reykjavik.

Together with the strings in the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Edvard Grieg Choir will perform the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks' sublime The Fruit of Silence , which is based on a text by Mother Theresa:

"The fruit of silence is prayer.

The fruit of prayer is faith.

The fruit of faith is love.

The fruit of love is service.

The fruit of service is peace.”