The ensemble’s latest album has been nominated for the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy Awards
The Oslo Quartet’s newest album Learn to Wait has been nominated for Norway´s Spellemann Prize. The Spellemann Prize is the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy Awards and has categories for all aspects of the Norwegian recording industry. Learn to Wait is nominated in the category ’Klassisk 2024,’ for best classical album featuring Norwegian artists or ensembles in 2024. The album features the first quartets by Benjamin Britten and György Ligeti, as well as Nils Henrik Asheim’s third quartet entitled Learn to Wait.
The Oslo Quartet, comprising violinists Geir Inge Lotsberg and Liv Hilde Klokk-Bryhn, violist Magnus Boye Hansen and cellist Øystein Sonstad, was founded in 1991 and is one of Scandinavia’s most acclaimed and sought after chamber ensembles. As well as being regular guests at all the major chamber music festivals and series in Norway and Scandinavia, the quartet tours Europe and America, including the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, Wigmore Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York.
The Oslo Quartet recently held the third annual KvartettPå festival on Saturday March 15 at the Majorstuen Church in Oslo. As hosts, the quartet joined by the string trio Ssens, pianist Marina Kan Selvik and string players from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
The theme of the festival was the impact made by two influential and strong personalities in music history: Nadia Boulanger as a pedagogue and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge as a patron of music. The different pieces were presented with innovative multimedia-presentations created by the Oslo Quartet’s cellist Øystein Sonstad.
Highlights included Bartók’s String Quartet No.5, Britten’s String Quartet No.1, and the Adagio from Barber’s Quartet. Other featured composers were Anton Webern, Igor Stravinsky, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, Johan Kvandal and Geirr Tveitt.
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