— Chamber music in large format.
This Friday we will experience the strings from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme full of contrasts: from Wojciech Kilar's energetic and vibrant Orawa , via Anna Clyne's meditative Within Her Arms , to Tchaikovsky's musical memory of beautiful Florence — perhaps one of his most famous ensemble works.
Where the program's Polish opening piece Orawa is full of folk music inspiration and rhythmic drive, British Anna Clyne's work is a meditation on loss and longing, dedicated to her mother who passed away suddenly the previous year. The New Yorker writes that the music evokes memories of English Renaissance music and composers such as Thomas Tallis and John Dowland.
The concert concludes with Tchaikovsky's popular chamber music work — his warm, romantic and lyrical memory of his stay in Florence in 1890.
String Orchestra from Harmonien
Alexander Kagan concertmaster
Duration approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes including interval.
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Wojciech Kilar (1932—2013)
Orawa (1986)Anna Clyne (b. 1980)
Within Her Arms (2009)Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840—1893)
Souvenir de Florence, op. 70 -
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is among the world's oldest orchestras, with a history dating back to 1765. Edvard Grieg , Johan Halvorsen, Harald Heide, Andrew Litton and Edward Gardner are just a few of the orchestra's chief conductors throughout history. Today, the orchestra has 101 musicians, has the status of a national orchestra and this autumn enters its first season with incoming chief conductor Tabita Berglund, who will be the orchestra's first Norwegian chief conductor since Karsten Andersen retired in 1985. Gramophone named the orchestra Orchestra of the Year in 2025, and they were Festival Musicians of the Year at this year's Bergen International Festival. In recent seasons, the orchestra has played in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and at the BBC Proms — to name a few.
Alexander Kagan grew up in one of the most famous homes in Russian music life — his parents were violinist Oleg Kagan and cellist Natalia Gutman. He began playing the violin at the age of six, studied at the Moscow Conservatory and then with Kolja Blacher in Hamburg and Berlin, and has won prizes in the Glazunov Competition in Paris and the Oistrakh Competition in Odessa. Since 2020, he has been the first concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and he is regularly invited as a guest concertmaster to orchestras such as the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. As a chamber musician, he has played at the Lucerne Festival and Kuhmo in Finland, and he is the first violinist of the Bergen String Quartet. He plays a Guadagnini from 1780, on loan from JO Odfjell in Bergen.
We wish you an enjoyable, unique concert experience with us. Welcome!
Photo: Oddleiv Apneseth