I spent a day in Stavanger observing and documenting noted composer and conductor Péter Eötvös working with a selected number of participants from the Norwegian conductor’s program (Dirigentløftet/Talent Norge/Sparebankstiftelsen).
Maestro Eötvös was this season’s Composer in Residence of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, also conducting his own works.
Here are a few impressions from their last workshop day.
I was recently back in Oslo making portraits of orchestral and choral conductors that take part in the Norwegian conductor’s program (Dirigentløftet/Talent Norge/Sparebankstiftelsen).
The sessions were held inside the beautiful Opera House. As a lover of architecture, it was a treat to have the textures and shapes of this iconic building as my backdrop.
Here are a few samples from these sessions.
The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera recently performed the Christmas Oratorio by J.S. Bach at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, a tradition before the Christmas holidays.
The cathedral has just finished installing a completely new lighting setup, which really showcases the (vast) space. This was also the first time that I could test my latest lens purchase, the Leica 18mm Super Elmar for the M-system.
All these shots were captured handheld using the Leica M10 and the Visoflex typ 020 electronic viewfinder. This lens may be tiny in its stature, but it’s a beast when it comes to perspective and performance. These images can almost be considered as snapshots since no tripod was used (shutter speed of 1/30s) and subsequently the ISO-values were pretty high at 6400.
It was exciting to finally be able to take in so much of the architecture, in one single frame.
The impressive organ pipes served in my mind as “musical architecture”.
More images from the performance and a group portrait will follow shortly.
After landing in South Korea, and spending at least 13 hours onboard airplanes (not including the ground stops ), it was time to hit the streets of Seoul. The body craved some light exercise and a bit of fresh air.
I took my Leica cameras for a walk to capture the contrasting vibes of the city, the serene and ancient temple grounds and the hustle and bustle of a modern metropolis.
Ole
Hello from Berlin,
I’m spending the month of March in this awesome city of culture. The municipality of my hometown of Trondheim (Norway) has very kindly allowed me with to stay in their “artists apartment” here in Berlin for a whole month. This is a rather unique opportunity for an artist like myself, that’s allowing me to get to know the cultural scene of Berlin in greater depth than is possible during a short visit. There’s so much going on at any given time here, which one expects of a world class city. The more you experience, the more you realise the scope of whats on offer, and that you cannot possibly take it all in, in the course of just one month. That’s of course not entirely a bad thing, it just means that you have to return again and again.
The focal point of any trip to Berlin, as a classical musician and photographer, is of course Die Philharmonie. The home of the mighty Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. There are so many great orchestras and concert halls around the world, but can they top this power house of music I wonder? There’s something of a “Gesamtkunstwerk” going on when you visit this place, located close to Potsdamer Platz. You can see the architect Sharoun’s golden and edgy building from afar. When you enter into this structure, you wander around in these angled and quirky shapes. The evident reason for the shape of this building hits you when stepping into the main performance hall. You as an audience member are surrounding the stage and the sound surrounds you. An immersive feeling, if you’re on stage performing or comfortably seated in the hall as a member of the audience. Do make the time to come to Die Philharmonie and experience the true power of the performing arts. If you would like to see more of the hall, the resident orchestra and behind the scenes footage, I highly recommend checking out the orchestra’s own photographer Monika Rittershaus. You can find her work online and, believe it or not, in good old fashioned books. Her book “Moving Music” is a wonderful documentation of Sir Simon Rattle’s tenure as chief conductor of the orchestra.
I still have a few days left in Berlin before I head home, and those days will be filled with cultural activities and of course photography.
Bis später,
Ole
Die Philharmonie