Klaus Mäkelä
Emanuel Ax
Jean Sibelius
Anders Hillborg

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Sibelius

Oslo Concert Hall Select date: Buy ticket

Klaus Mäkelä conducts Sibelius

The American pianist legend Emanuel Ax is the soloist in Anders Hillborg’s “The MAC Concerto” from 2023, which was written for him. Klaus Mäkelä also conducts Jean Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen, where the famous Swan of Tuonela is one of four tone poems.

“…vivacious, funny, heroic, eloquent, plain-spoken, thoughtful and wholly irresistible…This is a work in which constructive ingenuity and the pleasure principle walk arm in arm…” one reviewer wrote after the premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in the fall of 2023.

Hillborg wrote the concerto for the pianist legend Emanuel “Manny” Ax, who is also tonight’s soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic. Hillborg writes about the subtitle The MAX Concert: “It suggests – in powerful ALL CAPS – the exuberance and genius of the outstanding pianist.”

In the last few decades, Anders Hillborg (b. 1954) has become one of the most versatile and most-performed composers. He has written music for film and television and collaborated with pop artists like Eva Dahlgren. His orchestral pieces have a film score-like visual feel.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) often found inspiration in the Finnish national epic Kalevala, and his music has almost become synonymous with Finnish nature and mythology. In the 1890s, he wrote four symphonic poems about Lemminkäinen, one of the most famous heroes in Kalevala. 

Lemminkäinen is a fearless adventurer and skirt-chaser, a sort of Finnish Don Juan. Lemminkäinen does not form a coherent narrative but independent episodes. Sibelius is more concerned with recreating the mood and atmosphere than telling a story.

The second of the four symphonic poems in Lemminkäinen is the most famous and often performed as an independent work: Swan of Tuonela, in which Lemminkäinen meets the enigmatic swan guarding the realm of the dead. The swan is portrayed through a famous solo for English horn.

What is played

  • Anders Hillborg Piano Concerto No. 2 «The MAX Concerto»
  • Jean Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite

Duration

Performers

Tickets

Prices

Price groups Price
Adult 185 - 610 NOK
Senior 195 - 490 NOK
Student 185 - 305 NOK
Child 150 NOK

Klaus Mäkelä
Emanuel Ax
Jean Sibelius
Anders Hillborg

Oslo Concert Hall Select date: Buy ticket