Violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing signs with Epstein Fox Performances

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Epstein Fox Performances (EFP) has announced the signing of recent Opus Klassik Award-winning violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing for North America. The signing will run alongside Hemsing’s representation with Harrison Parrott, which will represent her worldwide excluding North America.

Hemsing will be managed by Michael Fox, founding partner at EFP. This signing is part of a concerted expansion for EFP following the opening of a dedicated Classical Division in September 2023.

’Eldbjørg Hemsing is a perfect example of the EFP thesis on the future of classical music,’ said Fox. ’We also believe that artists and composers have just scratched the surface of the capacity of artistic expression for string instruments in general.’

Hemsing’s remaining 2023/24 season sees her appear with Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Yan Pascal Tortelier and return to Trondheim Symfoniorkester, alongside engagements with Den Norske Opera and Xi’an Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to classical repertoire, Eldbjørg Hemsing is strongly dedicated to contemporary Nordic music, having recently performed Anders Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No.2 with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, a project that follows last season’s recording of Rolf Wallin’s Whirld Violin Concerto with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra under Andris Poga. Duo recitals and chamber music programmes in trio with Daniel Müller-Schott and Martin Stadtfeld take her to Germany for the Dresden Music Festival and the Heidelberger Frühling Festival, to Bærum in Norway and to the US.

Other recent highlights include performances of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.3 with Orchestre National d’Île de France, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Oslo Philharmonic and Bruch’s Violin Concerto with Philharmonia Orchestra under Santtu-Mathias Rouvali. Hemsing regularly collaborates with orchestras such as Bergen Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Shanghai and Hong Kong philharmonic orchestras, and has performed at venues such as Lincoln Center New York, the Kennedy Center Washington, Wigmore Hall, Verbier Festival and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

She has also performed at numerous major global events and venues such as the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, United Nations, Shanghai Expo, and the UN Security Council. She has developed a close collaboration with the composer Tan Dun with whom she has premiered, toured, and recorded several award-winning works. She is a passionate speaker on the power of classical music beyond its traditional borders.

Hemsing’s first album on Sony Classical with Arctic Philharmonic and Christian Kluxen, Arctic, was released in February 2023 and is devoted to the rich natural soundscapes of the Arctic. The album gained her an Opus Klassik Award in the category Classic without Limits. Her current discography of recordings includes an album of Grieg’s violin sonatas on BIS, which won the Spellemann Prize in Norway as Recording of the Year 2020. Her second album, Fire Ritual, centres around Tan Dun’s Violin Concerto, composed for and premiered by Hemsing, and her debut album in 2018 featured Hjalmar Borgström’s Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1, recorded with the Wiener Symphoniker and Olari Elts.

A musical entrepreneur, Hemsing is actively involved in a multitude of projects, all rooted in her passionate interest to bring classical music to a more mainstream audience. She is a senior artistic advisor of the global research firm Advisory Board for the Arts, spearheading ventures to bring transformative thinking to arts organisations and artists. She co-founded the Hemsing Festival and is the artistic director of the SPIRE, an innovative annual competition to promote and nurture young artists in their artistic and personal self-development in the classical music world.

Born in Valdres, Norway, Hemsing studied at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo and with professor Boris Kuschnir in Vienna. She plays a 1707 Antonio Stradivari ‘Rivaz, Baron Gutmann’ violin, on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.

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