St. Petersburg premiere for Norwegian composer
Lasse Thoresen’s new orchestral work Transfigurations will see its premiere in St. Petersburg on May 18 as part of Norway’s gift to the city’s 300th anniversary.
Transfigurations, which is a triple concerto, will be performed by the St. Petersburg Academic Symphonic Orchestra with Norwegian soloists; Isaac Sculdman on violin, pianist Einar Steen Nøkleberg and Øystein Birkeland on cello. Conductor is Peter Szilvay. In celebration of St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary, Norway presents this orchestral work as a gift to the city.
Says the composer of his most recent work: “It was meant to be a 15-minute piece, but ended up being more than 30 minutes. I’m not so good at stopping…”
Thoresen composed Transfigurations to be performed together with Beethoven’s triple concerto. “Like so many others, I’m a huge, huge admirer of this composer – I guess you could say that I’m part of Ludwig’s gang now” says the composer.
Thoresen is known as a sonorous artist with strong ties to French music and spectral compositional traditions. During the 70s and 80s, Thommesen along with Olav Anton Thommesen brought the sonology (a compositional and musical analytic theory of Dutch origin) to Norway. As a professor at the Norwegian State Academy of Music, Thoresen has educated many of the current young generation of composers. His work with spectral techniques has also led the composer to the quarter tones found in traditional Norwegian folk music.
Transfigurations will also be performed at the Oslo contemporary music festival Ultima this autumn by the Norwegian State Academy of Music’s Symphony Orchestra.
