Bergen International Festival May 26-June 9, 2021
$30 (digital pass for festival: $53-$112)
The 69th Bergen International Festival, the largest curated festival for music and performing arts in the Nordic region, consists of 76 large and small events, and luckily for those who can’t make it to Norway this year, 30 of these are available digitally.
The theme for this year's festival is “This is America?” Fitting with that theme, the Festival Composer is Grammy-nominated American composer Missy Mazzoli, who even performs some of her own works including Vespers for Violin with violinist Peter Herresthal (June 2) and The night ahead and no real fate, for piano and electronics (June 3).
The 2021 festival opens in Bergen’s Grieghallen with the world premiere of The American Moth, a multimedia performance by winter guests and Alan Lucien Øyen with, among others, Liv Ullmann on stage. Fifteen days later, it is time for the closing concert, with Arne Nordheim's The Tempest in new, cinematic form by video artist Sarah Derendinger. The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra performs the music with conductor Edward Gardner and soloists Mari Eriksmoen and Johannes Weisser. Other events include classical concerts and music of several genres, theatre performances, dance, debates, and events for the whole family. The Festival even dips into gaming music with Let’s Play, an evening of music from several of the world's most popular games – Zelda, Super Mario, Tetris, World of Warcraft, Assassin's Creed, and Pokémon (May 29).
If you can’t catch an event's premiere, a recording is available until June 23.