Artist(s)

CAROLINE EIDSTEN DAHL – RECORDER
Caroline was born and raised in Drammen. From 1999 she studied recorder with Frode Thorsen at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, graduating in spring 2003.

From autumn 2001 she studied with Pro­fessor Dan Laurin at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where she majored in chamber music and was awarded her diplo­ma in autumn 2006.

Caroline has played with leading ensembles in Norway and abroad, including Academia Montis Regalis, the Kremlin Chamber Or­chestra, Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, 1B1 Group, Barokkanerne Norwegian Ba­roque Ensemble, Bergen Chamber En­semble, the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, Kammer Allegria, the Trondheim Soloists and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

A list of Caroline’s festival performances includes Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, the Stavanger International Cham­ber Music Festival, the Oslo Opera Festival, the Stockholm Early Music Festival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, the Early Music Festival in London, Festival of the Night in Korpilombolo, the Norwegian Or­gan Festival in Stavanger, the Winter Night Festival in Oslo, the Grieg Festival in Aren­dal, Barokkfest in Trondheim, and Johan Halvorsen Musikkfest in Drammen.

During the season 2009-2010 Caroline played in the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet production of “L’incoronazione di Poppea”, and she appeared in its pro­duction of “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria” in spring 2012 and 2016, as well as in Innsbruck in 2017.

Caroline has received a number of prizes and scholarships, among them, finalist in the renowned Yamaha Recorder Ensemble Competition in Cambridge in 1998, and with her Woodpeckers Recorder Quartet in 2010 the Audience Award at the EAR-ly Competition arranged by NORDEM.

CHRISTIANE EIDSTEN DAHL – BAROQUE VIOLIN
Christiane is a Norwegian modern and baroque violinist based in London. She graduated from Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway after completing her undergraduate degree with prof. Geir Inge Lotsberg.

After receiving the TICON scholarship, Christiane moved to London to study with prof. David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2010. She joined Southbank Sinfonia as their first ever Nor­wegian musician for their 2012 season.

She has performed at Wigmore Hall, Roy­al Albert Hall (including numerous BBC proms performances), Glyndebourne Opera (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), Musikverein Vienna, Concertgebouw Am­sterdam and Theatre Champs-Elysèes Paris. She has toured Europe with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Academy of Ancient Music and further afield has per­formed in China, Brazil and, as leader and principal 2nd violin with Trondheim Barokk in Colombia. She also regularly performs in Norway with Barokkanerne Norwegian Ba­roque Ensemble.

She recorded Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Academy of Ancient Music in April 2014 and the Vivaldi Four Seasons with the Gram­ophone award winning La Serenissima in 2015, with whom she regularly appeared as principal 2nd violin. She is a founding mem­ber of the baroque ensemble Istante, with concerts including performances as soloist in the Vivaldi Four Seasons, and of Royal Baroque, who have performed internation­ally in Peñíscola festival in Spain and were finalists at the York International Early Mu­sic Competition. In January 2017 Christiane won the Trondheim Young Baroque Musi­cian Soloist Competition.

KATE HEARNE – BAROQUE CELLO
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Kate is a graduate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Stockholm’s Royal College of Music. Equal­ly at home on the baroque cello as on the recorder, she plays both instruments profes­sionally and tours extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, performing with an array of baroque and contemporary music ensembles.

During her student years, Kate was recipi­ent of many awards for her playing, including first prize at the inaugural Montréal International Recorder Competition and scholarships from the Bank of Ireland Mil­lennium Scholars Trust, the Arts Council of Ireland, the Swedish Arts Council and Konstnärsnämnden, among others. She has recorded for labels such as BIS, CPO, Dec­ca, Lyric, and ECM with ensembles includ­ing Concerto Copenhagen, Barokksolistene, the Norwegian Soloists Choir and the Irish Baroque Orchestra.

Kate is adamant about spreading her knowledge and enthusiasm on to the next generation and she is involved in some fantastic projects for children and young people. Her­self and Caroline Eidsten Dahl make up half of the virtuoso recorder quartet Woodpeck­ers, which insures that live music reaches the ears of thousands of children every year. She has given master classes at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and teaches at various summer courses throughout Europe. Since 2017, Kate is employed with Musikalliansen in Sweden, which gives her the freedom to pursue her freelance career while offering security. She lives with her family in the sea­side town of Helsingborg.

VEGARD LUND – BAROQUE GUITAR, THEORBO AND ARCHLUTE
Vegard studied with Erik Stenstadvold at the Norwegian Academy of Music and with Nigel North (early guitars and lute) at Guild­hall School of Music and Drama, where he was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix). His debut as soloist at St. John’s, Smith Square, received glowing reviews and led to engagements for BBC Radio and Television. He works regularly with a number of Scandinavia’s leading choirs and ensembles and in recent years has collaborated with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Adolf Fredriks Bach Choir and the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, in addition to engagements as soloist and continuo musician with the Norwegian Chamber Or­chestra, the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, Barokkanerne and the New Dutch Academy.

Lund’s recent festival appearances have in­cluded the Stavanger Chamber Music Fes­tival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, the Nordland Music Festival and the Stockholm Early Music Festival. As soloist and chamber musician he has participated in festivals and concert series in many European countries, as well as in South Africa and the USA.

Vegard Lund has been musical director for a number of musical theatre productions, including “Vår Frans av Assisi” at Det Åpne Teater in Oslo, directed by Barthold Halle. In spring 2014 he was musical director and musician in a production of “William i lyst og last” (Det Norske Teater), with newly composed music for theorbo, flutes and harpsichord by Gisle Kverndokk.

ENSEMBLE FREITHOFF
Ensemble Freithoff performs in chamber music constellations and smaller orches­tra instrumentations. The ensemble’s core consists of Caroline Eidsten Dahl, Vegard Lund and singers Helene Wold and Daniel Sæther. The ensemble provided the music for performances of “Alvedronningen” (Purcell’s “Fairy Queen”) at Ramme Gaard in summer 2011 and since then has been in­volved in a number of concert and theatrical
productions. The ensemble has arranged its own festivals, at Lavetthuset on Hovedøya in the summer of 2012, and in the summer of 2014 at Linderud gård in connection with the 1814 bicentennial celebration. But its own attendance record was set at its debut on the main stage of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet with Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater, Dolorosa”, during Easter 2014.

In recent years the ensemble has appeared at a number of festivals and has had concerts in churches and cultural centres throughout Norway. It has toured with the production of the chamber opera “Il Duello Amoroso” with baroque dancer Elizabeth Svarstad, the performance of “Spurv i øyet” with actor Marit Grefberg and a Shakespeare programme with Ola B. Johannessen, as well as numerous straight concert productions.

The ensemble’s name comes from Johan Henrik Freithoff, who was one of Norway’s first baroque composers. The name is an indication of the ensemble’s wish to maintain its focus on a Scandinavian repertoire in dialogue with European sources of inspiration. The ensemble also wishes to expand its repertoire with new music composed for old instruments, with works of Ånesen, Nordheim and Nørgaard, among others.

Composer(s)

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