Eldbjørg Hemsing

Violin

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“It becomes more than clear that Eldbjørg Hemsing is the real thing.”
(NRK, May 2020)

One of the most charismatic and leading young violinists on the international scene today, Eldbjørg Hemsing is acclaimed for her “radiant and sophisticated performances” (BBC Music Magazine) and is a musician committed to bringing her art form to new and emerging audiences across the globe. Her international career took off quickly, leading to three award-winning albums and world premières of numerous compositions in many of the greatest halls of the world.

The 2022/23 season sees her debuts with Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Santtu Matias-Rouvali, Belgian National Orchestra and a performance at the Philharmonie de Paris with Orchestre National d’Île de France and Anu Tali during their extended tour of France. A devoted chamber musician, she has recently begun a long-term chamber music partnership with cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and pianist Martin Stadtfeld, and the Hemsing-Müller-Schott-Stadtfeld Trio already has a highly successful tour behind them, with a new tour planned for January 2023.

Recent highlights include performances of Anders Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No.2 with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and her debut at Concertgebouw Amsterdam (playing Mendelssohn’s e‑minor concerto as part of the Robeco Summer Nights concerts). Eldbjørg Hemsing regularly collaborates with orchestras such as Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras, and is a welcome guest at prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Verbier Festival and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

She has also performed at numerous major global events and venues such as the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, the United Nations, the Shanghai Expo, and the UN Security Council. She has developed a close collaboration with the composer Tan Dun with whom she has premiered, toured, and recorded several award-winning works, and is a passionate speaker on the power of classical music beyond its traditional borders.

In July 2021, Hemsing signed an exclusive recording agreement with Sony Classical and her first album entitled “Arctic”– to be released in February 2023 – will be devoted to the rich natural soundscapes of the Arctic. Her current discography of critically acclaimed recordings includes an album of Grieg’s violin sonatas on BIS, which won the Spellemann Prize in Norway as Recording of the Year 2020. Her second album, Fire Ritual, centers around Tan Dun’s violin concerto (composed for and premiered by Eldbjørg Hemsing) and her debut album in 2018 featured Hjalmar Borgström’s Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1, recorded with the Wiener Symphoniker and Olari Elts.

A musical entrepreneur, Ms. Hemsing is actively involved in a multitude of projects, all rooted in her passionate interest to bring classical music to a more mainstream audience. As Senior Artistic Advisor of the prestigious global research firm, Advisory Board for the Arts, she spearheads ventures to bring transformative thinking to arts organizations and artists. She co-founded the Hemsing Festival and is the Artistic Director of the SPIRE, an innovative annual competition to promote and nurture young artists in their artistic and personal self-development in the classical music world.

Born in Valdres, Norway, Eldbjørg Hemsing studied at the prestigious Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo and with Professor Boris Kuschnir in Vienna. She plays a 1707 Antonio Stradivari ‘Rivaz, Baron Gutmann’ violin, kindly on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.

HarrisonParrott represents Eldbjørg Hemsing for worldwide general management.

Gallery

Anders Hillborg Violin Concerto No. 2, conducted by Christian Karlsen © Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

Eldbjørg Hemsing - Tan Dun: Fire Ritual (Promo trailer) © Eldbjørg Hemsing

Eldbjørg Hemsing - Borgström violin concerto and Shostakovich violin concerto no. 1 (BIS records) © Eldbjørg Hemsing

Eldbjørg Hemsing – Grieg: Violin Sonatas with Simon Trpčeski (Promo trailer) © Eldbjørg Hemsing

“Hemsing and Trpčeski present a fine performance with a narrative character: the music takes a descriptive, almost visual quality, thanks to their striking musicality.”

(The Classic Review, March 2020)

“The violin tone of the young Norwegian Eldbjørg Hemsing has something spacious, immediate, unseen, nothing pretentious about it … [Eldbjørg] plays so brilliantly and convincingly in her “mother tongue” that it must captivate everyone. ”

(Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 2020)

“Playing with remarkable lyricism and eloquence, Hemsing was the perfect advocate for this concerto, a work of late-romanticism tinged, here and there, with the harmonic colour of the era of Richard Strauss and Debussy.”

(Calgary Herald, January 2020)

“The brilliant soloist Ms. Eldbjørg Hemsing brought the music to life, articulating each note with precision and richly dynamic expression.”

(Broadway World, Dec. 2019)

“While some of Tan Dun’s ideas may seem rather overextended at times…what comes across most powerfully here is the dynamic three-way synergetic split between Tan Dun as conductor, Eldbjørg Hemsing’s striking characterisation of the solo violin’s material, and the sheer force and power of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Recommended.“

(Grammophone, April 2019)

“A splendid combination of purity and sweeping, Heifetz-like intensity.”

(The Strad, 2018)