Ensemble Sollesnes is a musical cooperation between soprano Karen Steller, violinist Lene Sollesnes Holum and pianist Hilde Marie Torgauten.
Lene and Karen met in 2001, in Brisbane, Australia, when they both studied at Queensland Conservatorium. The very same year, they created the performance "An Enchanted Evening" and introduced their fellow students and teachers to Norwegian musical gems and the Norwegian fairytales and myths. Their work has continued since then, and in 2004 Hilde Marie Torgauten became a member of the Ensemble.
The combination of violin, voice and piano gives the trio a flexible variety of music to choose from - and the music Ensemble Sollesnes presents in their projects ranges from the purely classical in nature - to more folk-like and popular repertoire and is chosen from all periods and all parts of the world. If necessary, the trio cooperates with other performers/artists.
Ensemble Sollesnes is a flexible, creative and charming trio that communicates with their audience.
"The Looking Glass"
"The Looking Glass" is the title of a song cycle written by the Australian composer Rohan Jayasinghe. The music is composed to texts by the poet and librettist Ursula Vaughan Williams, widow of the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The song cycle was originally composed for a competition in 2002 when Urusla Vaughan Williams visited Australia. In 2005 Jayasighe arranged the music for Ensemble Sollesnes.
Jayasinghe has also written another piece of music, Fantasy nr 2 for violin and piano, commissioned by Ensemble Sollesnes. Both works are rich in melody and vitality.
The music by Jayasinghe is presented together with the beautiful "Neun Deutsche Arien" by Händel. We have chosen to present works by a contemporary and works by one of the greatest baroque composers on the same program. Some may find this odd. Our reason, however, is simply that we feel that these opposites in time and place highlight and emphasize the beauty of one another.
"The Looking Glass" - music by Händel and Jayasinghe - is recorded on CD.
