Klassisk Musikkmagasin Portrait

BY HILDE HOLBÆK-HANSSEN PHOTO: ØYVIND ELVSBORG

“I received a ‘wake-up-call’ at the age of sixteen,” explains violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing. “At the Verbier Academy in Switzerland I realised that I had potential as a soloist.” In light of the challenges and opportunities she had been given during her years studying at the Barratt Due Music Institute, this conclusion was probably no surprise to others. But for Eldbjørg, this realisation was crucial. Now she is nineteen and has reaped numerous awards.

The list of prizes she has won is impressive. Most well-known in her home country are awards from two competitions arranged by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation: the talent contest Kjempesjansen (“Chance of a Lifetime”), where she and her sister Ragnhild placed second with Wieniawski’s notoriously difficult Scherzo Tarantella in 2006, and two years later the competition Virtuoso, which she won with her performance of Franz Waxman’s no less bravura Carmen Fantasie. In the latter competition she also won the audience prize.

Winning first prize in the Virtuoso competition brought Eldbjørg to Vienna and the finals in the European Broadcasting Union competition Young Musician, where, in addition to placing third, she again won the audience prize, based on votes by the Austrian, German and Swiss viewers. That same year she was awarded the Norwegian Soloist Prize and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra’s prize.

Other prestigious accomplishments include the 2005 Kocian International Violin Competition in the Czech Republic, where in addition to winning her own class she was awarded the Grand Prize (as winner of the overall competition) and the Bärenreiter music publisher’s award; the European Union Prize (European Music Competition for Youth); the audience prize at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland in 2006; Musician of the Year 2006 in the Norwegian Youth Music Competition; the Øivind Bergh memorial prize in 2007, and the talent prize of the Norwegian Council for Schools of Music and Performing Art in 2002. In November 2008 she was awarded StatoilHydro’s talent scholarship “Heroes of Tomorrow”.

Audience Favourite

We meet Eldbjørg Hemsing while she is rehearsing for one of her prizes: part of the reward for winning the Virtuoso competition was a solo appearance with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In February she redeemed her prize by performing Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto no. 2 with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the direction of the Hungarian-Norwegian conductor Peter Szilvay. He jokingly comments that this is one of the most demanding works a conductor can direct: “When Bartok’s 2nd is on the programme, there are almost more conductors than violinists in the audience …”

“How would you characterise the soloist?”

“I find that Eldbjørg shows incredible authority by putting interpretation ahead of technique. Moreover, she shows respect for both the composer and the other musicians without letting that hold her back. She gives her all at concerts and rehearsals, laying herself bare, making herself vulnerable ¬─ which is precisely where her strength lies. Eldbjørg puts music ahead of herself, and that is a rare quality today!”

In deep concentration, this gifted young musician stands facing the orchestra with her GB Guadagnini violin (1754). The blond hair cascading over her shoulders follows her movements through spirited passages, rhythmic drive and more lyrical segments. Eldbjørg is a splendid, charismatic representative of the new generation of Norwegian musicians. It’s no wonder she sweeps audience prizes wherever she performs!

“Is it a dramatic transition from the virtuosity of Waxman and Wieniawski to Bartók’s more modern tonality?”

“This is certainly a completely different type of music, but I am enthralled by it. Bartók comes naturally to me, as I grew up with folk music. He combines many of the elements of folk music with a more modern tonality. His violin concerto no. 2 is full of technical challenges, with many changes in time signature and tempo. I have worked on this concerto since I was 13 years old, and I have performed certain movements before, but this is the first time I’ll be performing the entire work. It’s very exciting!”

“But it must be more difficult to memorise this type of concerto than more melodious pieces such as the Carmen Fantasie?”

“You just have to keep listening and practising until you’ve got it down!”

Purely Fun

Eldbjørg Hemsing is true to her roots. She was born in Aurdal, Valdres in 1990 and started playing the violin at the age of five. Her music background is not mainstream: her mother, Bente Ingholm Hemsing, is a violin teacher and Hardanger fiddle player. Bente taught the fundamentals of playing the violin to Eldbjørg and her sister Ragnhild, who is two years older and also among the top echelon of Norway’s promising young musicians. Eldbjørg began commuting to the Barratt Due Music Institute in Oslo in 1997 for lessons with Alf Richard and Henning Kraggerud, and with the artistic director of this prestigious institute, Stephan Barratt-Due.

“When we hear about seven-year-olds commuting, our immediate associations are to expressions like ‘child prodigy’ and similar notions that we Norwegians should be opposed to. Do you feel that you have chosen this path yourself?”

“Oh yes, indeed. For a long time this was purely fun, and we were two sisters doing something we enjoyed together. We combined our lessons with visits to our maternal grandparents in Oslo, and the Barratt Due Music Institute was my second home. The entire atmosphere there is so enthusiastic and flexible. The talent school, which achieves impressive results, is characterised by a teaching philosophy where each student is encouraged to develop his or her own personality without being forced into a mould. Even though there are high demands placed on the students, you’re allowed to follow your own pace.” “Do you have any time for ordinary teenage life with all your practising and rehearsing? Is there room for teenage rebellion in such an environment?”

Eldbjørg smiles. “Yes, I certainly have a teenage life. When I am at home in Aurdal I get together with friends and enjoy the great outdoors with them. In Oslo and Vienna I can take advantage of what an urban setting has to offer, and I have a large circle of acquaintances I go out with. I guess I’ve never felt a great need to rebel. I have always known what I wanted to achieve and been aware that it would take resolve and hard work. I think the only revolution I’ve experienced must be the wake-up-call I received at the Verbier Academy. While I was there Leif Ove Andsnes was performing at the Verbier Festival. When we needed a pianist for a piano quintet, he came and rehearsed with us and directed the quintet. That was incredibly inspiring!”

In Verbier she also meet her current tutor, Boris Kuschnir from the Ukraine, who is professor at the music conservatory in Vienna and one of the founders of the Kopelman String Quartet. “He is an extremely gifted and inspiring teacher, and the Russian discipline and technique really keeps me on my toes. That suits me perfectly just now.”

A Natural Soloist

Eldbjørg Hemsing enjoys playing both contemporary and baroque music. She feels that having played the Hardanger fiddle just as long as she has played the violin has been crucial to her musical development.

“Do you play other genres in addition to classical and folk music?” “I have chosen to concentrate on those two genres. To me, it’s a question of respect; I see no reason to play something I have no mastery of. But I do keep informed about jazz and rock thanks to my younger brother. Andris, who is thirteen, is particularly fond of jazz, and he is on his way to becoming an accomplished fiddler as well. He thinks playing the fiddle is the most natural thing in the world . . . I must admit that I haven’t been playing the Hardanger fiddle must lately because there’s been so much going on since the competition in Vienna. But Ragnhild and I have a project with the folk music group Kvarts later this year that I’m looking forward to. The topic will be musical bilingualism: when classical music meets traditional folk music. This should be an opportunity for many interesting approaches.”

“You mentioned contemporary music; what do you have on your repertoire?”

“Well, it includes Lutoslawski and Nordheim. I’ve had the good fortune of performing Arne Nordheim’s Partita für Paul with the composer himself in the audience on more than one occasion, including a concert at the Bergen International Festival. That was a wonderful experience. Next summer I am going perform Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no. 1 with the Youth Symphonic Orchestra at Elverum. It’s an intensely emotional, exhausting concerto that requires forty-five minutes of sustained effort.”

Eldbjørg Hemsing is a natural soloist. Although she has some orchestra experience, she feels freer as a soloist.

“I’m not quite sure how it sounds if I say that I lose a bit of myself in an orchestra,” she says hesitantly in her lilting Valdres dialect.

Such a talented soloist should be allowed to feel that way. Her list of merits is impressive: by the age of nineteen she has performed with the symphony orchestras in Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger, as well as with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä, the Ashland Symphony Orchestra (Ohio, USA), the Ukraine National Philharmonic Orchestra and the chamber orchestras Oslo Camerata, the Trondheim Soloists, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Czech Chamber Orchestra of Pardubice. In January 2010 she and her sister Ragnhild will make their debut with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dynamic Taste

Eldbjørg readily adapts to others when playing chamber music, which she delights in doing. There’s no time for a regular chamber ensemble apart from the duo partnership with her sister, but she’ll be making music with others next summer when she visits the music festivals in Elverum, Norway and Bad Kissingen, Germany. Arve Tellefsen, Norway’s premier violinist, will also be performing in Bad Kissingen.

“I have performed with him on several occasions, which has been both inspiring and delightful. He has been a role model for several generations of violinists in Norway.”

“Have you been won any more ‘award concerts’ since the Young Musician competition in Vienna?”

“Not exactly award concerts, but in October I will be playing Shostakovich with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra as a result of my accomplishments in Vienna. During the coming concert season I will have recital tours in Norway and England, and in March 2010 I will be travelling to Spain with the chamber orchestra Oslo Camerata.”

It seems possible to detect a rather dynamic taste in this young violinist’s choice of repertoire: Bartók and Shostakovich’s concertos are on the list, while Sibelius and Brahms will have to wait.

“But in my recital series I will be performing music by Brahms, Grieg, Franck and Mozart,” Hemsing observes. “When you’re learning such an extensive concert repertoire, do you have time to study music in the same way as other music students? What about ear training, theory, music history, and so on?”

“Oh yes, I’ve had some theory, which is most useful. I’m also fond of reading, and learning about the works I’m going to perform is important to me. I’ve been particularly fortunate when it comes to the Bartók concerto: I have had lessons with the Hungarian violinist Gabor Takács-Nagy, who himself rehearsed the concerto with Zoltán Székely, for whom it was written in 1938. He has told me so much about the collaboration between composer and soloist that I feel I have quite a direct link to the composer.”

Bartók initially planned to write a single-movement theme and variations, but Székely wanted a standard three-movement concerto. Székely’s wish was granted, but after he had approved the concerto, Bartók informed him that the entire third movement consisted of variations on the theme in the first movement. Bartók himself was not in the audience for Székely’s premier performance in Amsterdam in 1939, but heard the concerto for the first time four years later in Cleveland, Ohio, performed by violinist Tossy Spivakovsky.

“What was it like to perform in front of the 60,000 people filling the Vienna town hall square?”

“Playing for such a large audience and feeling the atmosphere was simply fantastic. An outdoor concert of this type is perhaps no great acoustic experience, and it was a bit strange to have the jury sitting behind us. But it’s a memory I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”

“What has it been like being the centre of so much media attention?” “So far it has just been fun and no trouble at all.”

“This may be a silly question, but what do you dream of?”

“Of becoming so accomplished that I can perform with the best musicians and the best conductors. If I ever get there, and how long it will take, is hard to say.”

“Aren’t you frightened at the prospect of living the life of a concert nomad travelling the world?”

“Not at all – I love to travel! I’ve always travelled, as living in Valdres meant that we had things to do in other places. Experiencing new places is exciting, and I’ve never felt lonesome on tour. In fact, I get restless if I stay in one place for too long. When I’m at home in Aurdal I like to go up to our summer farm in the mountains.”

“What would you say if someone offered to dedicate a violin concerto to you?”

“I would accept!” Eldbjørg beams.