Nordland Music Festival: Opening speech

Ambassador,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all thank you for a wonderful concert. It was really a memorable experience.

It is a great pleasure to open the Nordland Music Festival here in London. The Festival, which takes place every August in the Arctic city of Bodø, has had a respected standing in the cultural scenery of Norway since it was first arranged 20 years ago.

This year, for the very first time, the festival is moving abroad – to be part of the Norwegian Season here at Cadogan Hall.

The Nordland Music Festival has been particularly good at presenting the wide variety of classical and contemporary music in which our younger – and more established – musicians are now excelling. But the festival is also presenting a part of Norway – Nordland.

This is a spectacular part of our country - with its many islands, fjords and inlets, glaciers and dramatic mountain ranges. Its beauty has inspired artists of many kinds over the centuries – painters, writers and musicians alike. Nordland is also a county of contrasts – exemplified by the twenty-four hours daylight in summer and several weeks of darkness in winter.

People and culture of this region are obviously and inevitably influenced by the powers of nature. Nordland Music Festival captures this energy and communicates it to us.

There are three very different concerts here in Cadogan Hall as part of the Norwegian Season. Some of you may want to come back tomorrow for the jazz concert and on Saturday for the performance of contemporary music.

As patron of Nordland Music Festival, I am pleased to declare the festival’s London season open.

Thank you.