The Vestfold International Festival is Norway's only festival covering an entire county.

The festival reveals and revels in the region`s cultural heritage through music and other performances. The festival is a meeting place for Norwegian and foreign artists, both amateurs and professionals, in a setting that ranges from the traditional to the avant-garde. A hallmark of this festival is the informal and sunny profile where the entire county is used as a festival arena, the jagged, rocky slopes along the coast and the inland waterfalls being used as backdrops. Wherever you will stay in Vestfold during Vestfold International Festival, 12. juni - 8. juli 2009, you will not be far from a festival event.

The Vestfold International Festival 2009 is being organised for the 19. time, with a special emphasis on Larvik Baroque, Tønsberg Classical and Sandefjord Jazz.

English version by Jan Risvik.

Sandefjord Jazz  For programme details

12 June. Hans Mathisen ”Timeless Tales”. Commissioned Work
Hans Mathisen has put together a raw and original ensemble: his own quartet joined by the Royal Norwegian Navy Band.
Lyrics by i.a. Emily Dickinson and William Wordsworth will be recited by actors Johannes Joner and Nina Andresen Borud.

13 June. Jazz Brunch with Bodil and Borge
Bodil Niska and Knut Borge are two central personalities in the Norwegian jazz scene – Niska the tenor sax player and Borge the enthusiastic and knowledgeable journalist. A tasteful lunch of improvisations and verbal capers.

13 June. Kristin Asbjørnsen
Oslo newspaper review of Kristin Asbjørnsen’s “The Night Shines Like The Day”:
”… another unique album... A warm and fascinating sound in the intersection between folk music, pop and jazz”. In France, last winter under the Babel Med Festival, she received the prestigious World Music Artist Award.

14 June. Bo Kaspers Orkester
Swedish Bo Kaspers Orchestra enters the stage of eminent Hjertnes amphi. The band is in possession of a unique musicality and a treasury of charming songs and instrumental finesses – a mixture of groovy jazz and bossa pop.

15 June. La Fuente
If melancholy can be forged into hot passion, then that is what happens when Atle Sponberg’s top group la Fuente gives us Astor Piazzola’s ”Soledad”. ”Their playing soon put all scepticism to shame” (from newspaper review).

Tønsberg Classical  For programme details

28 June. The Song of the Whales
Commissioned work on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of
Svend Foyn’s birth in Tønsberg in 1809.Composer, text selection and adaptation: Ketil Bjørnstad

Svend Foyn (1809–1894) was a pioneer and founder of pelagic whaling and industry that came to mean a lot for Norwegian life and coastal culture. He developed whaling methods and equipment that were to change both seal and whale hunting for generations to come.

29 June. Fréderic Chopin/Nils Henrik Asheim. Mazurka
Nils Henrik Asheim has made a cycle from a selection of Fréderic Chopin's 51 Mazurkas with re-interpretations, in collaboration with Gjertrud’s Gypsy Orchestra.
Originally, Mazurka was a generic term for several Polish dances.

30 June. Wandering Music
Gjertrud’s Gypsy Orchestra has specialised in East European Gypsy music from Russia, Romania and Hungary. The concert will take place by the sea in the light of a flickering bonfire.
 

1 July. Amsterdam String Quartet. Haydn and the Gypsy Music
For several years, Haydn served as an orchestra conductor for the Hungarian titled family Ezterházy. Here he met with Gypsy musicians, who were also in the service of the noble household.

2 July. Mozart’s ”a quattro” – created for aristocratic parlours                                  Piano concertos 12 and 13 count among the first Mozart wrote for his subscription concertos in Vienna in 1783. They soon gained wide-spread popularity and with their intimate character, they can also be performed by a string quartet and piano alone – a quattro!
 

3 July. Süssmann Trio                                                                                             This concert marks the anniversary of two great composers: It is 200 years since Haydn’s death and Mendelssohn’s birth. Gunilla Süssmann holds an outstanding position among young Norwegian pianists and she already boasts an international career of impressive achievements.

4 July. Pop Baroque
Two young musicians – singer Elisabeth Holmertz and baroque guitarist Fredrick Bock – take as their starting point the songs of legendary composer and singer Barbara Strozzi, who lived in Venice in the 17th century. Her music has a lot in common with today’s ballads and pop songs.

5 July. Gunnar Idenstam. Virtuosic organ music in a French spirit
Gunnar Idenstam is a freelance concert organist, composer, music arranger and folk musician, trained in Stockholm and Paris. He counts among Scandinavia’s most distinguished organists.

6 July. Canzonettas. Berit Norbakken Solset soprano Ingfrid Breie Nyhus piano            Two very exciting musicians performing some of Haydn’s finest songs.
Haydn’s music describes conflicting emotions such as sickness of heart, anger and memories.

7 July. Chamber Music in the Evening Sun
Tom Ottar Andreassen is an active and much sought-after solo flautist. For this evening’s programme, he has brought a bunch of brilliant colleagues to perform a wide range of flute music, spanning from solo to quartet. The lovely garden of Engø gård is a ravishing arena for first-class musical adventures.

8 July. J. S Bach: Gloria & Magnificat
This gala concert will conclude the 2009 Vestfold Festival with some of Bach’s most magnificent works. ”Magnificat” is one of Bach’s most eminent vocal works, composed for a choir of five voices and orchestra.

Larvik Baroque     For programme details

3 July. Bach in Swedish
Classically trained, and with their roots in the soil of Swedish folk music tradition, Lisa Rydberg and Gunnar Idenstam invite Father Bach to dance side by side with the Swedish ”polska”.

4 July. The Amsterdam String Quartet and Gary Cooper, cembalo                      Amsterdam String Quartet and Gary Cooper belong to the European elite within the field of early music. At Herregården (the Mansion) we will encounter Bach in the little format – intimate and grand at the same time.

4 July. Tracing Bach’s Steps! Baroque Evening at Tollerodden
Welcome to a musical night out in the spirit of the Baroque, between time and eternity, between food and music, in the summer night at Tollerodden in Larvik. 
 

5 July. Larvik Harbour in the times of J.S. Bach                                                           This year’s cultural stroll departs from the Church of Larvik via Vadskjaeret and Skottebrygga, ending up at Elvehavnen by the Larvik kulturhus. The Baroque came by boat to Larvik Harbour. It manifested itself in several ways: a painting or a sculpture, in the tones from the organ or through the tastes of spices and coffee.

5 July. J. S. Bach. Concerts and Arias
During recent years, Marianne Beate Kielland has established herself as one of Norway’s most eminent singers – with numerous international concerts behind her.
The programme also offers a variety of Bach’s fantastic instrumental works.

6 July. J.S. Bach. The Passion of St Mark, BWV 247
Bach’s Passions are dramatisations of the Sufferings of Christ – a kind of Baroque opera. The story is told by the Evangelist and is being commented on by the choirs, while reflection and meditation over the events emerge through the arias.
In recent years, Die Kölner Akademie has been ranked among Europe’s most proficient ensembles within the field of early music.

Summerconcerts For programme details

13 June. Bo Kaspers Orchestra
On the Festival’s most spectacular arena, Verdens Ende (World’s End), we will meet with an ensemble that emanates pure joy of life and lazy summer mood. The summer’s greatest concert event! The sea, the rocky slopes and a treasury of charming tunes. Refreshments for sale.

16 June. Tora Augestad. A Cabaret Journey
”Tora Augestad sings like a God. Magnificent!” Oslopuls. In particular, she has distinguished herself, at home and abroad, with her interpretations of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht.

17/18 June. Vamp
Vamp have become the whole country’s favourites. Last year’s success with their album and sold-out concerts confirms this beyond any doubt – and with a new crew at that!
“Vamptastic! Swept the audience away. New Vamp fully meet all expectations. They have never been better!”
 

26 June. Fireworks Concert
The Royal Norwegian Navy Band comes through with a unique fireworks concert at Vollane on Karljohansvern, concluding in a crescendo of Händel’s ”Music for the Royal Fireworks” accompanied by flamboyant fireworks.

27/28 June. Musical Cruise around Nøtterøy with polar vessel ”Bertine”
Duration 4 hours. Limited number of tickets. Pre-order recommended.
Fish soup incl. in ticket.

2/3 July. Valkyrien Allstars
Sparkling Valkyrien Allstars have their heart in folk music. This is really captivating music. And all music lovers get their share, the rock people and folk music enthusiasts alike. Prior to the concert in Kjærrafossen, a buffet of prime-quality Vestfold food will be served by the river. Chef of the Year Gunnar Hvarnes will take this event to unmatched culinary heights.

5 July. Sinikka Langeland Ensemble
Sinikka Langeland has written new music to poems by Edith Södergran and Olav H. Hauge. The distinctive character of the musicians of this eminent ensemble greatly contributes to the expression of the performance. The silvery tone of the kantele runs like an undercurrent, sounding almost like a full orchestra in itself.

4-19 July. The Troll Mirror
The Troll Mirror is a remarkable mirror that turns everything upside down: big becomes small, white turns black, nice becomes ugly and dung is turned into gold. The performance is crammed with song, dance and fun for little and big kids alike!

All in all; the possibilities are countless!

For complete programme and booking, see www.vestfoldfestspillene.no
For assistance, call + 47 33 30 88 50

Ticket Information: 815 33 133