Bergen International Festival Closing Concert

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2022 Bergen International Festival

Bergen International Festival Closing Concert

Grieghallen

The Rite of Spring, the signature work of the Bergen International Festival, and a world premiere by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.

​The 70th Bergen International Festival closes according to tradition with an evening of celebration in Grieghallen with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Chief Conductor Edward Gardner will guide the audience through the evening.

The vocal group Roomful of Teeth opens the concert with a commissioned work by Caroline Shaw, who is a member of the ensemble. The eight Grammy-winning singers master an extraordinary breadth of vocal techniques, allowing them to create unique effects.

Vocalist/violinist/composer/producer Caroline Shaw has composed works commissioned by Anne Sofie von Otter and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; she has composed film music and has produced for Kanye West and Nas.

Caroline Shaw's work leads up to the signature work of the festival, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, with prize-winning pianist Paul Lewis as the soloist. Hailed as 'the best British pianist for several generations' he received great acclaim for his performance of the Grieg Concerto with the New York Philharmonic.

The concert concludes with one of Stravinsky's best-known works: The Rite of Spring. Its first performance in Paris in 1913 was too extreme for an unprepared audience and had a very poor reception. Today this work by one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century, though now well established in the standard repertoire, is still welcomed as fresh and innovative in a concert programme.

Photo: Thor Brødreskift