— The 90th anniversary of a true classical icon.

Hardly anyone has influenced the Norwegian classical music scene to such a great extent as Liv Glaser. We invite you to an evening where the queen of all Norwegian pianists will be honoured for her 90 years dedicated to music.

Throughout this festive evening, we have the pleasure of hearing Liv herself perform music that has been important to her over the years. The program has been carefully put together for the occasion, with everything from lyrical pieces by Edvard Grieg to excerpts from Mozart's 12th Piano Concerto, French songs, Schubert , Fauré , Schumann and of course Ravel — and much more.

Liv has a handful of fellow players with her who have also been important to her in various ways as a teacher, pianist and person — including three generations of pianists represented by Håkon Austbø , Tor Espen Aspaas and Emil Duncumb .

Mona Levin will be giving the evening's opening speech. The new biography, Liv Glaser. Tones in Light and Darkness, written by Marion Hestholm (Bodoni Forlag), will be for sale during the concert and can also be ordered together with a concert ticket from TicketCo (NOK 449).

Welcome to one of this season's highlights in the Oslo University Aula.

Photo: Leif Blichfeldt

Liv Glaser fortepiano
Ann-Helen Moen soprano
Helene Wold soprano
Bjarte Eike violin
Karolina Radziej violin
Mari Giske viola
Ernst Simon Glaser cello
Steinar Granmo Nilsen horn
Håkon Austbø piano
Tor Espen Aspaas piano
Emil Duncumb piano
Elizabeth Svarstad dance

Duration approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes including interval.

Liv with her older sister at the Barratt Due Institute of Music.

Image credit: Bodoni Publishing

Life (no. 2 from left) in the piano class of Vlado Perlemuter in Paris.

Image credit: Bodoni Publishing

Life as a soloist in Narvik with father Ernst as conductor.

Image credit: Bodoni Publishing

Liv with Professor Malcolm Bilson.

Image credit: Bodoni Publishing

Life at the piano at home in Bærum.

Photo: Trygve Indrelid

• Programme

  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756—1791)
  Two French songs:
  Oiseaux, say tous les ans, K. 307
  Dans un bois solitaire, K. 308

  Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414: II. Andante

  Franz Schubert (1797—1828)
  On the River, D. 943

  Robert Schumann (1810—1856)
  From 5 Stücke im Volkston , Op. 102:
  I. Vanitas vanitatum: My Humor
  II. Slowly

  Edvard Grieg (1843—1907)
  Street, op. 57 no. 2

  Gabriel Fauré (1845—1924)
  Capriccio, Op. 84 No. 1

  Maurice Ravel (1875—1937)
  Menuet sur le nom d'Haydn (1909)

  Edvard Grieg
  Grandmother's Minuet, Op. 68 No. 2

  — Pause

  Charles Gounod (1818—1893)

  From Six mélodies pour le cor à pistons (1840)
  I. Larghetto well-posed

  Camille Saint-Saëns (1835—1921)
  Romance, op. 36

  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827)
  Rondo in C major, op. 51 no. 1

  Frédéric Chopin (1810—1849)
  Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor, Op. mail

  Mozart-Volodos-Aspaas
  Rondo alla Turca, based on the 3rd movement from
  Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11, K. 331

  Maurice Ravel
  Sonatina (1905)

  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414: III. Rondeau. Allegretto

• About Liv Glaser

  Liv Glaser received her first musical training from her mother, pianist and piano teacher Kari Marie Aarvold Glaser, and from her father, violinist, music teacher and conductor Ernst Glaser — in addition to her time in the music kindergarten at Barratt Due. She studied with Robert Riefling in the early 1950s, and later that decade at the Paris Conservatory with Vlado Perlemuter. Here she already attracted attention and received first prizes both in chamber music and as a soloist. In the 1960s she continued her studies in Moscow, and also received important impulses from a number of conductors and professors in Europe, including Ilona Kabos and Wilhelm Kempff.

  Ever since its debut, here in University Aula in 1960, Liv Glaser has been counted among the Norwegian piano elite. She has given countless concerts and appearances on radio and TV, and she has toured Norway, Scandinavia, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She received the King's Medal of Merit in gold at the age of 29 and was invited to several of HM King Olav's official trips.

  Her discography consists of over 20 releases, including the first recording of all of Grieg's lyrical pieces (1965). In addition to a large amount of Norwegian and French repertoire, classicism has increasingly resonated with her: In 1990 she began new studies with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna, studied Mozart manuscripts in Salzburg and delved into fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University in the USA. The fortepiano became her new specialty, and historical performance practice has been her domain ever since.

  Glaser has taught at the Norwegian Academy of Music since its inception in 1973, became a professor in 1994 and is still associated with the institution as a teacher — in addition to master classes and jury work both in Scandinavia and internationally. In addition to the aforementioned King's Medal of Merit in 1965, Liv has received, among others, the Lindeman Prize (2004) and the Grieg Prize (2014). In 2018, she was appointed Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.

  We recommend this interview with Liv Glaser from 2017, penned by Sverre Gunnar Haga / Norwegian Academy of Music.

We wish you an enjoyable, unique concert experience with us. Welcome!

Photo: Trygve Indrelid (banner) / Bodoni Forlag (selection)