Amalie Stalheim (b. 1993) has appeared as soloist with orchestras including Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, among others. Amalie has collaborated with conductors such as Ed Gardner, Dalia Stasevska, Okko Kamu, Anna Maria Helsing, James Gaffigan, Nuno Coelho and Stanislav Kochanovsky.
Stalheim is the winner of the Norwegian Soloist Prize 2021, Swedish Soloist Prize 2018, Ljunggren Competition 2015 and Nicholas A. Firmenich Prize from the Verbier Festival 2015.
In addition to perform the traditional cello concertos, Amalie is frequently playing and also commissioning new written music from the 21st century. As an enthusiastic chamber musician, Stalheim has collaborated with Janine Jansen, Yo-Yo Ma, Leif-Ove Andsnes, Kathryn Stott, Christian Ihle Hadland, Polina Leschenko, Benjamin Schmid and Lars Anders Tomter.
Amalie Stalheim plays on a cello built by F. Ruggieri (1687).
Finnish music was born in the forest. Finnish music was born in the forest. Jean Sibelius heard the echoes of both his great symphonies and his aphoristic piano pieces in birdsong and humming trees, and it was from nature’s mysterious seduction that the thrilling story of the Wood Nymph was born. For Outi Tarkiainen, inspired by the nature of Lapland, the forest provides a hiding place, a platform for spiritual growth and a home for ancient stories. Outi Tarkiainen is one of the fastest rising Finnish composers of her generation internationally.
Hunt
12.6.
Four of the concert’s enduring favourites tell stories of life and death. While Mozart’s quartet rings with uninhibited joy, Johannes Brahms’s trio, composed in memory of his mother, is an ethereal picture of beautiful memories. Jörg Widmann’s Jagdquartett, one of the most performed pieces of our time, takes us on a terrifying hunting trip from which there is only one way out.
All the darkness in the world is not enough to extinguish the light of a single candle, and without shadows there would be no light. Sebastian Fagerlund’s dramatic Transient Light and Ralf Gothóni’s melodrama, based on a Zen Buddhist story, bring us face to face with age-old questions. Paavali Jumppanen performs Franz Liszt’s most iconic piano work, the Piano Sonata in B minor, which reaches from darkness to light.
Sound of Passion
14.6.
“These notes of mine kiss all of you. They call for you passionately,” wrote Leoš Janáček to his young beloved in the cover letter of his string quartet. Richard Wagner’s haunting Tristan and Isolde also deals with lust and longing for one’s beloved. American composer Amy Beach’s piano quintet, full of late Romantic passion, has become a favourite with audiences and critics alike in recent years.
Moments in Time
17.6.
In Naantali, the annual cycle does not follow familiar paths. Uneven rhythms and fiery pace take over Sebastian Fagerlund’s Octet and Astor Piazzolla’s Winter, while Vernon Duke takes a Broadway bathed in light to a Paris in spring. Experimental music master George Crumb’s haunting Music for a Summer Evening resonates with every listener.
