Oslo Chamber Music Festival

Facts

Arve Tellefsen is initiator and artistic director of Oslo Chamber Music Festival, and in 1989 he was able to welcome musicians and the audience to the first chamber music festival in Norway .

Arve Tellefsen , well renowned through many years as one of Norway 's leading artists, founded Oslo Chamber Music Festival to bring chamber music to a broader public than had been common in Norway . He is still the main spirit of the festival and the festival has through the years established itself as an important and popular contributor to Norway 's musical community.

The Music

Oslo Chamber Music Festival presents music spanning from the Medieval times to the present day.

The Festival strives to keep a continuing high quality with interesting events and performers. We want to offer music of premium quality to the public and be an attractive meeting place for some of the world's greatest musicians.

Recruitment to chamber music is important to Oslo Chamber Music Festival, and we emphasize having children and adolescents among performers and visitors.

Concert Locations

Oslo has several fabulous venues for concerts. Oslo Chamber Music Festival desires to extend the concert experience by using the city's cultural-historical treasures as concert venues.

Akershus Fortress was selected the most popular area in Oslo by the city's inhabitants in 2005, and we are proud to have the castle as the festival's bustling center.

Defence Minister Johan Jørgen Holst opened Akershus Castle for the festival in 1989 and wrote: "The Ministry of Defence is located on the Akershus Area, which belongs to the great cultural treasures we have inherited in this country, but perhaps not have taken as good care of it as we ought to. We make too little use of this area! An important task is thus to vitalize it, and make it more accessible. We must reunite the new and the old Oslo separated by Rådhusgaten. We have to engage artists with the resourcefulness needed to make this area much more attractive. First and foremost it should be an area where the quality of Norwegian art can be expressed and be in closer touch with a larger number of people than today. We should make Akershus Castle into an important window for visitors to Norway , where they experience what Norwegians occupy themselves with, what they have created, and can accomplish."

HM Queen Sonja has been patron of Oslo Chamber Music Festival for several years, and we owe HM The King and HM The Queen great thanks for opening their domiciles for our concerts. This gives an extra dimension for both performers and the audience.

Please go to "Locations" for further information on these and other concert venues. (Norwegian only).