Haugtussa and Grieg

Haugtussa & Grieg

Midsummer concert featuring the timeless, captivating, and beautiful work Haugtussa, seen in light of Arne Garborg’s life and work in Jæren.

The program includes Arne Garborg’s Haugtussa, set to music by Edvard Grieg Op. 67. The cycle contains some of Grieg’s most beautiful and well-known songs. Additionally, previously unpublished Haugtussa songs will be performed, along with a selection of Grieg's most famous songs, such as Våren and Ved Rondane.

Haugtussa was considered one of Arne Garborg’s most important books, written with a tender gaze backward at the childhood landscapes of Jæren. Edvard Grieg was deeply impressed and, not least, inspired by Haugtussa: “It is a truly genius book, where the music is already composed. One only needs to write it down.” In 1895, Grieg began working on 20 of the total 71 poems in Garborg’s book, but only published eight of them in Op. 67, focusing on themes of nature mysticism and love. In connection with the Grieg Jubilee in 1993, six of these songs were released by Edition Peters as "songs from Haugtussa not included in Op. 67."

Short biography of performers:

Opera singer Marit Kristine Risnes has completed her five-year studies in singing at Agder Music Conservatory in Kristiansand, followed by studies at the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, with an Austrian state scholarship. She then pursued diploma studies in singing at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, Germany, with a Master’s degree as a "Soloist for Concert and Opera."

She continued with an engagement in the German agency ZBF and went on to have a singing career in Germany, performing at opera houses and theaters such as Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Vogtland Theater, Neustrelitzer Landestheater, Neuköllner Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, and recordings and concerts with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, including performances at Gewandhaus Leipzig and Berliner Philharmonie.

In Norway, she has worked as a district musician, soloist with choirs and orchestras, opera concerts, chamber concerts, and church concerts from south to north. She has participated in several projects organized by the Arts Council, Rogaland County, the Fund for Performing Artists, MUST Museum in Stavanger, and has appeared as a soloist in NRK2's "Salmeboka minutt for minutt."

Pianist Mari-Anne Sagland was born and raised in Sandnes. She began her piano studies at Rogaland Music Conservatory with Milena Dratvova and then continued her studies in both solo piano and chamber music under Prof. Alexander Warenberg at Utrecht Conservatory, Netherlands. She pursued studies in Contemporary Music with Ton Hartsuiker, Voice and Accompaniment with Tom Bollen, and chamber music under Ron Ephart.

In Norway, she has participated in masterclasses with Eva Knardahl, Geir Henning Braaten, Antonio Bibalo, Jens Harald Bratlie, and Eline Nygaard.

Sagland has received Dutch State Scholarships, Austrian State Scholarships, the Fund for Performing Artists, Study Grants from the State’s Stipend and Guarantee Incomes for Artists, and Sandnes Municipality’s Travel Grant.

She has worked throughout Norway as a district musician. For ten years, she was employed at the University of Tromsø at the Music Conservatory, where she worked as an accompanist and piano teacher.

Sagland has participated in numerous concerts across the country as a soloist and accompanist and has also given performances in the Netherlands and Sweden.

She is currently employed at Sandnes Cultural School and Vågen Upper Secondary School as a piano teacher and accompanist.