Russia in retrospective

Vitalij Vasilievitch and his wonderful crew consisting of his son Artem and Artem´s cousin Elena - is doing an absolutely marvellous job in Russia, produceing great concerts with some outstanding musicians. In addition to that Vasilievitch has a vision and a force greater than most cultural entrepeneurs. His will to unite and collaborate is remarkable. And because of that Vasilievitch gets done more than most people can handle with two hands only.



It was a great pleausre to work with him, and this is just the beginning of many more projects in Russia, lead by "Vasilievitch and his magnificant duo".



This September I will envite musicians from Vasilievitch´s inner pocket and present them in my Café de Concert festival in Fredrikstad, Norway. If you have the chance to be there, don´t miss it!

Check out what Russian TV made out of the last concert in Pskov:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BjTzHH7Jk

Final concert in Pskov

After driving from St.Petersburg to the concert in Novgorod in 3 hours, a 4 hours road trip awaited us the day after.
As you can see, Artem (one of the fabulous producers - more on them in my next blog) didn´t quite know in which direction he´d point out the way to Pskov after we had driven for a while, so I guess he just posed for the camera:)
Igor, our magnificant camerman, drove us the whooole time! Igor - you are the man! And a man of action - cause we really
didn´t know where we were going....



Never the less, we made it in the end!
And hey - I got to play in front of a castle!!!! I´d drive anywhere for that!
Some last minute tuning needed to be done after a TV-interview, and then Pskov got to know this shy musician from Norway.


Many thank´s to the wonderful translator Valeria Isaeva for her outstanding english and super funky shoes!!





MAN, what a tour this has been! Many, many thank´s to Vitalij Vasilievitch and his magnificant crew! I´ll let all of you readers in on just how fantastic they are, and what superb work they do for fine arts in Russia in my following blog. And then, maybe some unofficial photos from the tour...what do you say guys? Ready for some party pics? Well see ;)

Playing on Rachmaninovs home court

Novgorod - the home town of Rachmaninov, and so many other historical personalities and events! Before I went on stage I made sure Rachmaninov knew exactly where he had me. With my hat off. Then I put on my Nike´s and grooved as much as I could in Novgorod Philharmonic Concert Hall, hopeing that Rachmaninov would shake it in his grave! At least it made the audience get up out of their chairs at the end of the concert, that was fun :) Next stop Pskov - after a 4 hour roadtrip tomorrow morning. Gospodi!!!




P.S.: The dude with the shield...was the Danish King Rurik, who freakin´ ruled all of Russia almost 1000 years ago! Damn....Respect to the Danes!


And these bells made Rachmaninov groove in his famous c sharp minor prelude...

Mozart and Gershwin in the Catherine Palace

A full house was waiting for me in a concert hall covered in gold. Yes, I felt as alive as never before. My heart was beating faster than ever, but once I heard the first chords of Mozart in the orchestra I dissapeared into another world. Yesterday night I felt totally inspired by everything here in St.Petersburg, so I wrote one cadenza for each movement in Mozart´s piano concerto nr. 11 in Rachmaninov-style, which I performed for the first time this evening at the Catherine Palace in Pushkin. The audience seemed to like it as they shouted bravo already after the first movement. That sure inspired me even more :) We finished off the concert with Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin. The ochestra was super funky and the conductor, my very good friend Mikhael, was totally awsome! Lovely audience, absolutely lovely!! It´s 3 am in the morning now, and I need to pack my bags and get some sleep before I set off at 8 am for a solo performance in Novgorod in the evening. "I love this game" :)

Rehersal and pressconference

Today I had the first rehersal with the orchestra and after that there was arranged a pressconference in St.Petersburg Center of Culture, where I met some very interesting people! The Norwegian Counselor was also there, very cool guy! Second rehersal with orchestra tomorrow and then I´m plannig to rock around the clock at the summer palace of Ekaterina on the 9th with Mozart and Gershwin. Great conductor, by the way - will write more about him later! And what do you know - at the hotel I am staying at I found a good upright piano the hotel so kindly allowed me to practise on, so now I don´t have to walk more than to floors down, before I see my beloved black and white keys...Man! I might get fat from all of this luxurious practising...so time for some sit-ups!

Do all trainstations in St.Petersburg have concert halls??

Ok...This just blew my mind!
Today was my first day practising in St.Peterburg. When I first heard that the piano was located in a old trainstation, I sort of thougt to my self...weeeell, I´m allways up for adventures, so why not see where this one takes me! And then I walk into the trainstation...and up these majestic stairs (going...what the f...??) - and then this grand concert hall seduced my eyes in a second. It turns out that even Richard Strauss has been performing here. So I said: Ok, I can manage to practise here for a couple of hours...!!!!





...and ps: St.Petersburg is amazeing!!

Three scholarships, Carnegie Hall and St.Petersburg in a flash

Today I came to the wonderful city of St.Peterburg! Rehersals with the orchestra doesn´t start before on the 7th, so I have a day or two to relax and get around a bit in the city. I was here for the first time in 2006, but this town makes you breathless everytime you set fot on it, I can tell you that! Yesterday was just unbelivable! In the morning I got a scholarship for my Carnegie-debut from Wilhelmsen Shipping worth 4680 USD! And yes, it´s now official and legal to annouce that I am makeing my debut in Carnegie Hall this October 10th! Don´t miss it, folk´s :) And if that´s not enough - later that same day as I was given yet another scholarship worth 7810 USD for one of my projects in Norway!! I am not allowed to tell from whom I got it from or for what I got it for - yet... But it sure made my day like no other day ever before!!:):) Earlier this week Kari and Harald Tybring Gjedde gave me a scholarship worth 1560 USD, also for my Carnegie-debut. My oh my, am I going to make the money worth it once I get up on that stage on 7th avenue!!

Art Director Artem Vitalevich gave me a wonderful tour in St.Petersburg when I arrived this morning:)




Artem Vitalevich




Very enthusiastic nice, yet unknown, person and me:)