Casa dei Mezzo Festival 2005

Friday 17th - Sunday 19 June 2005

 

ANNETTE SCHMIDT
Annette was born in Siegen (Germany) and received her musical education in Würzburg and Freiburg with Ulrich Koch.

After her studies, Annette played for five years as principal viola in the "Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn". Since 1990 she has been a member of the "Freiburger Barockorchester", playing on historic instruments and performing all over the world. As well as orchestral playing, Annette enjoys chamber music and teaching.

GRO BERGSLAND
Gro is from Oslo, Norway. She studied music at Oslo University where her main instrument was the piano. Then for 20 years she was a soprano with the Norwegian Broadcasting Choir that twice won "The Silver Rose Bowl" award.

Gro currently makes frequent appearances as a background singer on TV shows and recordings and is also a popular music teacher. She is married to Tore Eide.

INGE NORUM
Inge comes from Oslo, Norway. He started his career as a rock musician but then became fascinated by Indian classical music. He formed the Sargam orchestra with Erik Wøllo and then played freelance for several years before joining the avant garde fusion band "Celeste" with Erik Wøllo, Bendik Hofseth, Øystein Sevåg and Jan Erik Salater.

More recently, Inge has been playing with Gideon Andersson in an orchestra where the musicians perform on "instruments" found on rubbish tips. Inge has also developed a new musical concept based on steel drums and other percussion instruments.

LAKKI PATEY
Lakki is from Norway. He loves Indian music and, together with Øystein Sevåg, was nominated for the 1983 Norwegian Grammy Award for the album "Windflowers". He wrote the music for the "Fairy Tale Caves Amusement Park" at Lillehammer, Norway and his albums include "Romance" with Inger Lise Rypdal as well as "Link" and "Visual" with ØysteinSevåg.

As a result of his travels through South America and his need to learn languages in a simpler way, Lakki created the language game "New Amigos" which allows people of all cultures, languages and age to exchange knowledge through their mother tongue.

MANOLIS LIANOUDAKIS
Manolis was born in Chania, Crete, but grew up in Makrigialos. From a very early age he has had a passion for traditional Cretan music and dance, and has been performing professionally for the last seven years. During the last three year Manolis has also given concerts in mainland Greece as well as other countries.

For his concerts, Manolis is also accompanied by Lefteris Fanourakis and Yiannis Zervakis (Laoutes), Michalis Daskalakis (guitar) and Yiannis Mbatzanakakis (drums).

MARIA SEVÅG
Maria studied the violin at the Music Academy (Musikhochschule) in Freiburg, South Germany.

Maria's current work includes teaching and playing classical concerts with several chamber orchestras, and as a soloist (improvisation, jazz elements) with her husband Øystein Sevåg. She has made a number of recordings with Øystein for CDs and movie films.

ØYSTEIN SEVÅG
Øystein was born near Oslo, Norway in 1957 and started piano lessons at the age of five. As a teenager he played bass in a rock band before returning to his classical roots to study piano, flute and composition. Øystein then plunged into electronic music with his self-released 1989 debut LP "Close Your Eyes and See" which was followed in 1993 by his album "Link". In 1995 Øystein released "Global House", a record reflecting his interest in acoustic sounds and worldbeat textures. 1996 saw the release of the album "Visual", a collaboration with guitarist Lakki Patey, and then in 1997 came the highly acclaimed album "Bridge" which won the Indie Award in USA for the best new age recording of the year.

Øystein's award winning music is the result of his unusually broad background. He works in the areas of classical music, jazz, rock, ethnic music and electronic avant garde, which has led to a synthesis uniquely his own. Øystein's unmistakable style, both as a composer and musician has resulted in his music being used in film and television. "Caravan", his latest CD, was released in April 2005.

TORE EIDE
Tore is from Oslo, Norway. He studied the cello at the Music Conservatory in Oslo, the Institute for Music Science in Oslo, and also at Oslo University and the Baarratt Dues Music Institute. He has played with the Youth Orchestra of Norway and the Hamar Symphony Orchestra. As well as the cello, Tore is also interested in the electic bass and improvised and jazz inspired music. He was previously a member of the band "Libido".

As a singer/songwriter, Tore often performs his songs in Norway and accompanies himself on guitar and piano.

UTE PETERSILGE
Ute lives in Freiburg, South Germany and usually plays classical music as a soloist, a chamber musician or an orchestral musician with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra or the "Anima Eterna" symphony orchestra in Belgium.

Ute also enjoys playing improvised music and at the Unicorn Camp in Germany this summer she will be playing with Peter Deunov's "Paneurhythmie", a spiritual dance group from Bulgaria.

Left to right: Annette Schmidt, Maria Sevåg, Ute Petersilge