About

Two grand pianos and a star-studded ensemble with Marianne Beate Kielland, Nils Anders Mortensen and Sanae Yoshida. This is a production from Scene Nord, which creates resilient collaboration between employed musicians, freelancers, soloists and composers.

The ILIOS festival 2023 opens with a premiere for the city's new grand piano with Ketil Bjørnstad. On the closing day, the audience can experience two pianists on stage, each with a grand piano! Pianists Nils Anders Mortensen and Sanae Yoshida will be joined by mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and percussionist Per Oddvar Johansen.

Composer Helge Iberg has written the work Palazzo - a rather rough and insistent piece of music, driven forward by fierce "groovers" in contrast to more muted meditative reflections. When Helge Iberg composed Palazzo, he envisioned a story about a reunion with childhood haunts and strong memories of power centered around the local castle or manor house (Palazzo), of powerlessness and poverty and of childhood play and excitement.

The concert's second work is LiebesKleineLieder, for which Helge Iberg has composed on commission from the outstanding mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and two pianos. It is a song cycle arranged for two pianos and song for this occasion, and the lyrics are written by the Jewish-German poet and journalist Eric Fried, who fled to England from Hitler's persecutions.

Cast:

Sanae Yoshida – piano

Nils Anders Mortensen – piano

Marianne Beate Kielland – mezzo-soprano

Per Oddvar Johansen – percussion

Helge Iberg – composer and improvisation