ARTISTS 2026
 

The New York Times calls Leif Ove Andsnes “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight,” and the Wall Street Journal names him “one of the most gifted musicians of his generation.” With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won acclaim worldwide, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras, while building an esteemed and extensive discography. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, was co-artistic director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music for nearly two decades, and served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival in 2012. He was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in July 2013, and has received honorary doctorates from Norway’s Universities of Bergen and Oslo and New York’s Juilliard School. Andsnes’s discography comprises more than 50 titles – solo, chamber, and concerto releases, many of them bestsellers – spanning repertoire from the Baroque to the present day. He has been nominated for eleven Grammys and his many international prizes include seven Gramophone Awards. His EMI Classics recordings of the music of his compatriot Edvard Grieg have been especially celebrated: the New York Times named Andsnes’s 2004 recording of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Mariss Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic a “Best CD of the Year,” the Penguin Guide awarded it a coveted “Rosette,” and both that album and his disc of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces won Gramophone Awards.   Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under the renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. He has also received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège, who, like Hlinka, greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. Today Andsnes lives with his wife and their three children in Bergen. He is an Artistic Adviser at the city’s Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy, where he gives a masterclass to participating students each year. He was the first musician to be asked and accepted to participate in our first festival in 2004, and he has been returning regularly since.

Arvid Engegård is an institution in Norwegian music life. His quartet - the Engegårdquartette, our house band - celebrates 20 years next year. The quartet tours extensively throughout Norway and abroad. The discography counts 20 releases. He regularly conducts all the country's orchestras. With his trio of accordion and bass, he plays everything from classical pearls to old dance and tours the country. He is also the artistic director of the Engegård Quartet's own festival 1,2,3, where they focus on one composer over the course of a weekend. He also watches as many games as he can with the football team from his hometown, Bodø-Glimt.

Roderick Williams is one of the UK’s most sought-after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. Opera engagements have included major roles at leading opera houses worldwide including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Dallas Opera, the Bregenz Festival and Oper Köln.  He has been involved in many world premieres including Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland, several operas by Michel van der Aa, the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew, and the UK premiere of Sally Beamish’s Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. Notable operatic engagements have included Oronte in Charpentier’s Medée, Toby Kramer in van der Aa’s Sunken Garden, Don Alfonso / Cosi fan Tutte and Sharpless / Madam Butterfly and baritone in a staging of Britten’s War Requiem for English National Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera, the title role in Billy Budd for Opera North, van der Aa’s After Life at Melbourne State Theatre and at Opera de Lyon, and van de Aa’s Upload for Dutch National Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Oper Köln and at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.  He has also appeared as Papageno and as Ulisse / Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria for the Royal Opera House, Toby Kramer for Dallas Opera, and Christus / St John Passion in staged performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, both under Sir Simon Rattle.  In 2023 he sang Germont in La Traviata at the St Endellion Festival and recorded the role for a new film by Opera Glassworks which was released on Sky Arts in January 2025.  Future engagements include Yeletsky / Pique Dame for Garsington Opera. Recent and future concert engagements include performances  with the London Philharmonic  Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Hallé, Britten Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, The Sixteen, The King’s Consort, Le Concert Spirituel, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, RIAS Kammerchor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bayerische Rundfunk, San Francisco Symphony, Music of the Baroque Chicago, New York Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony, Bach Collegium Japan, and Singapore Symphony.  He is a regular performer at the BBC Proms, featuring as the soloist in the Last Night in 2014, and most recently appearing in the St Matthew Passion in 2021, and the world premiere of Matthew Kaner’s ‘Pearl’ in 2022.   Other recent engagements included tours of Japan with the BBC SO, of Europe with the RIAS Kammerchor, and of North America with Bach Collegium Japan. He is an accomplished recital artist who can be heard regularly at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, the Perth Concert Hall, Ludlow Song Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Howard Assembly Room in Leeds, Bath International Festival, Three Choirs Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, the Concertgebouw and the Musikverein.  In 2019 he performed all three Schubert cycles at Wigmore Hall.   His recital programmes often feature repertoire by British composers, including many new works.  He appears frequently on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 as both performer and presenter. His numerous recordings include Vaughan Williams, Berkeley and Britten operas for Chandos, and an extensive repertoire of English song with pianist Iain Burnside for Naxos.  Other recent recordings include an award-winning disc of French song with Roger Vignoles for Champs Hill Records, the three Schubert Cycles with Iain Burnside for Chandos, and recordings of Stanford and Somervell with Susie Allan for Somm.   He has also recorded Schubert’s Winter Journey in a new translation by Jeremy Samms with Christopher Glynn for Signum.  He sang Captain Balstrode / Peter Grimes with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos (Gramophone Recording of the Year 2021).  He has also recorded his own arrangement of Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad and other English repertoire with the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder, also for Chandos. He is an established composer and has recently taken up the role of Composer in Association of the BBC Singers.  Commissions include a major work, World without End, for the RIAS Kammerchor and BBC Singers, as well as a commission to celebrate the centenary of the RAF.   He was Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder + in April 2016 and Artist in Residence with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 2020-2022.  Currently he is ‘singer-in-residence’ for Music in the Round in Sheffield, presenting concerts and leading on dynamic and innovative learning and participation projects that introduce amateur singers, young and old, to performing classical song repertoire.  In 2023 he was Artistic Director of the St Endellion Summer Festival, and Artist in Residence at the Aldeburgh Festival. In 2016 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year award, and in June 2017 was awarded an OBE for services to music.   He also performed at the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023. Williams last participated in Lofoten in 2023.

A career of already over 20 years, award-winning Naïve recordings, international concert appearances – Lise de la Salle has established herself as one of today's exciting young artists and as a musician of real sensibility and maturity. Her playing inspired a Washington Post critic to write, “For much of the concert, the audience had to remember to breathe... the exhilaration didn’t let up for a second until her hands came off the keyboard.”   The 2024/25 season sees her debut with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and returns to NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi. Other recent highlights include major performances at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, a return to RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. She performs recitals in prestigious concert halls such as Shanghai Concert Hall, Sydney City Recital Hall and Paris Seine Musicale.   She has played with many leading orchestras across the globe: Chicago, Boston and Washington Symphony Orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Münchner Philharmoniker, Dresden Staatskapelle, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale Della RAI, Rotterdam Philharmonic, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and NHK Symphony Orchestras, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra among many others. She collaborated with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Gianandrea Noseda, Krzysztof Urbanski, Antonio Pappano, Rafael Payare, Karina Kanellakis, Lionel Bringuier, Thomas Søndergård, Fabien Gabel, Marek Janowski, Robin Ticciati, Osmö Vanska, James Gaffigan, Semyon Bychkov, and Dennis Russell Davies.   She performs in the world’s most esteemed concert halls – Vienna Musikverein, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Herkulessaal in Munich, Berlin Philharmonie, Tonhalle Zürich, Lucerne KKL, Bozar in Brussels, Wigmore and Royal Festival Halls, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Hollywood Bowl, and festivals – Klavier Festival Ruhr and Bad Kissingen, Verbier, La Roque d’Anthéron, Bucharest Enescu Festival, San Francisco Performances, Chicago Symphony recital series, Aspen and Ravinia Festivals.

- Veronika Jarůšková – 1. violin - Marek Zwiebel – 2. violi - Šimon Truszka – Viola - Peter Jarůšek – cello The “life-enhancing” Pavel Haas Quartet (Arts Desk) is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion and intuitive rapport. Playing “as if their lives depend on it” (The Times), the quartet perform at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and has received numerous high-profile awards for its recordings, firmly establishing them as one of the world’s foremost string quartets.   Highlights of the 25/26 season include returns to the Musikverein, Vienna; Philharmonie de Paris; Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam; Konserthuset Stockholm and Wigmore Hall. Further afield, the Quartet returns to Taiwan’s National Concert Hall and the Seoul Arts Center, and tour North America in March 2026.   Renowned as the leading interpreter of Eastern European chamber music masterpieces, the Quartet was named as Ambassador for the Year of Czech Music in 2024. From 2025 until 2027, the Pavel Haas Quartet is Artist-in-Residence at Smetana's Litomyšl Festival, alongside the Czech Philharmonic.   The Quartet regularly appears at major venues including Wigmore Hall, London; Philharmonie, Berlin; Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Vienna; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg; Tonhalle Zürich; Philharmonie de Paris; Accademia di Santa Cecilia; BOZAR, Brussels; NCPA Beijing; LG Arts Centre and Seoul Arts Center, Seoul and Carnegie Hall, New York. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Quartet appeared on the cover of The Strad and was the featured interview in BBC Music Magazine. The latter named it among the “10 greatest string quartet ensembles of all time,” describing the Quartet as “stylistically powerful and richly sonorous, [and] known for its passionate and fearless performances.”   The Pavel Haas Quartet records exclusively for Supraphon. In September 2025, the Quartet releases its next album of Martinu String Quartets Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 7.  The Quartet has received five Gramophone Awards for its recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, Schubert, Janáček, and Haas. For its recording of Dvořák’s String Quartets No. 12 “American” and No. 13, it was awarded the coveted Gramophone Recording of the Year in 2011. The Sunday Times commented: “their account of the ‘American’ Quartet belongs alongside the greatest performances on disc.”   Since winning the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005, further highlights early in their career have included being nominated as ECHO Rising Stars in 2007, participating in the BBC New Generation Artists scheme between 2007–2009 and being award the Special Ensemble Scholarship by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2010. The Quartet is based in Prague and studied with the late Milan Škampa, the legendary violist of the Smetana Quartet. They take their name from the Czech-Jewish composer Pavel Haas (1899–1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and was tragically killed at Auschwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets. The quartet last participated in our festival in 2011.   Veronika Jarůšková – 1st violin, Marek Zwiebel – 2nd violin, Šimon Truszka – viola, Peter Jarůšek – cello Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Nils Anders Mortensen was born in Flekkefjord and has played the piano since he was three years old. After studying in Oslo, Paris and Hannover, he went to Alta in 1998 to become a regional musician on full time, which according to Nils himself must be one of the more varied and rewarding musical lives there is. As a musician in Northern Norway, Nils has worked in classical and contemporary music, ethno, folk and jazz, with amateurs and professionals, on piano and organ, and as an arranger and composer. Mortensen has recorded four solo piano albums with music by Grieg, Bartok, Debussy, Bach and Brahms. About the album “Im Freien” Morgenbladet wrote: “Nils Anders Mortensen plays, and one should listen to it. A personal voice rings through the accuracy.” About Bach Partitas (2023) Klassekampen wrote: “Mortensen lets the expressions go in such a colorful and varied parade that I find myself sitting on the edge of my seat.” Through his collaboration with singer Marianne Beate Kielland, Mortensen has also recorded lieder by Schumann, Mozart, Grieg, Elling, Thommessen, Webern, Berg, Schönberg, Iberg, Kverndokk, Lund and Hellstenius. Nils and fellow regional musician/double bassist Knut Erik Sundquist have released three albums together, in 2019 the folk music album "En smuk aftensang" was released. The collaboration with the string quartet Engegårdkvartetten has also led to three releases, the last of which was well-reviewed in Gramophone. Nils has been named "Debutant of the Year" by Rikskonsertene (1996), has been awarded the Robert Levin Festival Prize (2004) and the Nordlysprisen (2013). Nils participated in our very first festival in 2004, and Daniel Phillips, primarius of the Orion Quartet said: "imagine that I had to come all the way to Lofoten to play with one of the world's best pianists." Nils Mortensen has participated regularly in our festival since then.