Marianna Plays Grieg

Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto is one of the most popular Romantic works in the genre, a captivating mix of virtuosic solo passages, deeply expressive gestures, and the vigour of Norwegian folk songs. Armenian-Danish pianist Marianna Shirinyan has won numerous awards for her inspired performances, including the Association of Danish Music Critics’ Annual Prize and the Danish Radio’s P2 Artist Prize for her contributions to musical and artistic life in Denmark. A member of the adjudication panel for the Grieg International Piano Competition in Bergen for several years, she is a professor of piano performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

The programme will also feature Icelandic ballet and theatre music by two of Iceland’s leading 20th-century composers, Páll Ísólfsson and Jórunn Viðar. Úr myndabók Jónasar Hallgrímssonar is Halldór Laxness’ gripping dramatisation taken from Jónas Hallgrímsson’s stories and poems and premiered in 1945. Páll Ísólfsson’s light and ebullient music became wildly popular at the time but has lain more or less forgotten for decades. His score to Henrik Ibsen’s Veislan á Sólhaugum (The Feast at Solhaug) met with the same fate. Jórunn Viðar’s ballets Eldur and Ólafur liljurós are groundbreaking works, the first orchestral pieces by an Icelandic woman and the first ballets written by an Icelandic composer and performed in Iceland. After the concert, the ISO will record the works in collaboration with Chandos in preparation for an international release. 

Rumon Gamba hardly needs to be introduced to Icelandic concertgoers, as he was Chief Conductor of the ISO from 2002–2010. Gamba was recently engaged as Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra in Finland.

The Grieg Piano Concerto and Icelandic theatre masterworks from the mid-20th century.