Debut at Luzerner Sinfonieorchester on May 3rd 2024
Eldbjørg Hemsing
Violin
Debut at Luzerner Sinfonieorchester on May 3rd 2024
Violin
Eldbjørg Hemsing is one of the leading young violinists of today, and a global ambassador of classical music. Acclaimed for her “combination of purity and sweeping, Heifetz-like intensity” (The Strad), her “radiant and sophisticated performances” (BBC Music Magazine), she is committed to bringing her art form to new and emerging audiences across the world. Since she first emerged as a 5-year-old prodigy in her native Norway 25 years ago, she has quickly established an international career, recording three award-winning albums, premiering multiple acclaimed new compositions, and performing in the most prestigious venues of 15 countries, including extensive work in China, the US, and all over Europe. She has played for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, toured with the royal family of Norway, and been appointed to numerous curatorial and artistic advisor roles around the world.
Ms. Hemsing’s critically renowned recordings showcase the breadth and depth of her artistic adventurousness, with her latest album of Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonatas on BIS winning the prestigious Spellemann Prize for Recording of the Year 2020 in her homecountry of Norway. Her second album Fire Ritual centered around a new violin concerto, composed for and premiered by Ms. Hemsing, from the the most celebrated Chinese composer of our time, Tan Dun. Her debut album in 2018 featured violin concertos by Hjalmar Borgstrøm and Dmitri Shostakovich, recorded with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Olari Elis, and landed her on the cover of BBC Music Magazine. In July 2021, Ms. Hemsing signed an exclusive recording agreement with Sony Classical, and her first CD with the label will be a sonic voyage across the rich soundscape of the Artic, to be released in 2022.
Recent performance highlights include concerts with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra to open the Bergen International Music Festival 2020 and the Norwegian premiere of Hillborg’s second violin concerto with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in March 2021. Eldbjørg Hemsing appeared with orchestras such as Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Zürcher Kammerorchester, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Shanghai and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. She performed the Chinese, Swiss, Canadian and German premieres of the forgotten Borgstrøm violin concerto which she has rediscovered. This season sees her perform Tan Dun’s Fire Ritual with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Maxime Pascal and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal under the baton of Patrick Hahn. She is on tour with Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and appears in a play/direct programme with Georgian Chamber Orchestra.
A true cultural diplomat, Ms. Hemsing sees music as a bridge to opening dialogue between countries. She has performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, as well as for the United Nations and the UN Security Council. She has developed a close collaboration with the Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun that has strengthened diplomatic relations between China and Norway, performing his Hero Concerto as his request before going on to premiere three new works: his Triple Resurrection Concerto in Leipzig and Shanghai, his violin concerto The Love at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, and his violin concerto Fire Ritual at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in China.
A musical entrepreneur, Ms. Hemsing is actively involved in a multitude of projects alongside her busy performance and recording schedule, all rooted in her passionate interest to bring classical music to a broader, more mainstream audience. As Senior Artistic Advisor of the prestigious global research firm, Advisory Board for the Arts, she spearheads ventures to bring innovation and transformative thinking to arts organizations and artists around the world. Ms. Hemsing also acts as ambassador for the music education project CJD Panorama in Germany and regularly collaborates with W20 Network as well as several international art focused conferences such as the Abu Dhabi Culture Summit and the Nordic Arts & Audience conference amongst others. As Artistic Director and mentor in the SPIRE programme she follows her passion in supporting young talents in their artistic and personal self-development in the classical music world. She also co-founded the Hemsing Festival with her sister Ragnhild, where they create intimate musical experience with top-level performers in Aurdal, a small village in the mountains of Norway that inspired Edvard Grieg, Knut Hamsun, and others.
Ms. Hemsing proudly represents her native Norway on the global stage. Since making her debut performance for the Norwegian Royal Family at the at the age of six, she has regularly performed during State visits for the King of Norway, and is a well-known artist on Norwegian radio and TV. Together with her sister, violinist Ragnhild Hemsing, she recorded a 60-minute documentary on the life of the famous Norwegian violinist Ole Bull which was broadcasted on Norwegian National Broadcast NRK. The documentary won the Silverprize at Circom Festival, European Championship for television programs and a Golden Rose at the Rose d’Or Festival in Luzern.
Born in Valdres, Norway, Eldbjørg Hemsing studied at the prestigious Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo as well as with the renowned Professor Boris Kuschnir in Vienna. She plays a 1707 Antonio Stradivari ‘Rivaz, Baron Gutmann’ violin, on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation. In English, her name translates to “Keeper of the Fire.”