Saphir Quartet & Ossi Tanner: Mozart & Sibelius

- An unknown masterpiece is resurrected.

When Sibelius was 24 years old and a student in Berlin, he wrote his only piano quintet - a five-movement work with almost orchestral power. At the world premiere in Helsinki in 1890, Ferruccio Busoni himself sat at the grand piano, with Norwegian Johan Halvorsen on violin - he who a few years later would lead Harmonien here in Bergen. Sibelius himself never heard the work in its entirety: it was not performed in its entirety until the centenary of his birth in 1965.

Mozart's Divertimento in F major for string quartet is also a work of his youth: the composer was only 16 years old when he wrote his three so-called Salzburg divertimenti in the winter of 1772. In Håkonshallen, these two works of his youth are framed by Sibelius's beautiful and subtle piano cycle The Trees, op. 75 and the wistful, but very popular Valse triste.

In other words, this evening will be a celebration of young creativity - with a bunch of the Nordic region's leading young musicians on stage The award-winning Saphir Quartet meets the Finnish pianist Ossi Tanner, proclaimed "romantic virtuoso" by Helsingin Sanomat.

Amanda Noor Water violin

Philippe Jayer violin

Torje Råbu viola

Iris Kalliovirta cello

Ossi Tanner Piano

This concert is supported by the Norwegian-Finnish Cultural Fund.

Duration approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes incl. intermission.

Welcome to a concert in Håkonshallen!



Photo: Peter Ringenberg (Saphir) / Maarit Kytöharju (Tanner)