— Musical poetry.

When Solveig Slettahjell last visited The Havlystparken Concerts , it was designated as one of the highlights of the summer. Now she is back — in close collaboration with a rare star team of fellow musicians. In the program Remembrance , we hear poems set to music by some of history's greatest poets: Emily Dickinson and Emily and Charlotte Brontë , performed in a musical landscape with songwriter Morten Qvenild at the forefront.

“Slettahjell's singing and the band's playing are good for the heart. You can feel it,” writes Aftenposten's Arild R. Andersen in this review — while Nettavisen's Tor Hammerø rolls the dice 6 . There's hardly anything more to be said — secure your ticket now!

Solveig Slettahjell vocals
Morten Qvenild keyboards
Knut Reiersrud guitar
Roger Arntzen bass
Pål Hausken drums
Sidsel Endresen text recording

Duration approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. The program is without intermission.

• About the program

  The collaboration between In the Country, Solveig Slettahjell and Knut Reiersrud is a musical stroke of luck. They came together for a concert at the Berlin Philharmonic in 2014, which resulted in the Spellemann-nominated live album Norwegian Woods . The following year came the studio album Trail Of Souls and now, finally, we have a new release: Remembrance .

  Here Solveig Slettahjell has made a selection of poems by Emily and Charlotte Brontë and Emily Dickinson, which Morten Qvenild has set to music. The music was also recorded in Qvenild's studio Ugla Lyd over a period of two years.

  Nearly 200 years ago, the three English sisters Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë and the American Emily Dickinson wrote poetry on each side of the Atlantic. These poets are now considered among the greatest poets in history, but because they were women, their extensive output was never published under their own names during their lifetimes. It has therefore been powerful to see how they nevertheless know about each other and in one of their poems also write about each other.

  These poets lived in a time when life was fragile and grief was a familiar companion for many. The Brontë sisters all died early from what is believed to be tuberculosis. The lyrics are characterized by realization and loss, but also by hope and the will to live.

  Songwriter Morten Qvenild has put these lyrics in a beautiful and deep dialogue with and in the music. This dialogue takes on a deeper dimension when two of our leading vocalists, Solveig Slettahjell and Sidsel Endresen, are voices in the project. Qvenild has composed grounded songs in a modern expression and has ingeniously connected and contrasted lyrics and music. With Reiersrud, Roger Arntzen and Pål Hausken on the team, this comes together into a completely unique whole, where the music consistently reflects a deep connection with the relationship-based lyrics of Brontë and Dickinson.

  This is my letter to the world
  That never wrote to Me —
  The simple News that Nature told —
  With tender Majesty
  —Emily Dickinson

  In the Country, Slettahjell and Reiersrud have since their inception played to sold-out houses in the USA, Germany, Austria and elsewhere on Norwegian festival and club stages. With Remembrance , there will be release concerts throughout 2025.

Welcome to a unique musical experience!

Photo: Marte Garmann