EARTH LIGHT
Contemplation — nature, a little love, life here and now, and death. Musical autumn colours. Listening with and without candles, mostly without. Long walks in the forest and along the shore of the fjord.

From the beginning of her career in the mid-1990s until today, mezzo-soprano Hege Høisæter has been in continuous and active collaboration with numerous Norwegian composers. She has premiered major opera roles for a number of them, but here she has both received and found songs written for the smallest, most intimate format: music for 1 mezzo and 1 instrument. Same mezzo all the way, different instruments.

Works of Synne Skouen, Kjell Mørk Karlsen, Gisle Kverndokk and Rolf Wallin (as well as Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen, deceased, and American Thomas Sleeper), all experienced composers of vocal music who have written songs and cycles inspired by the poetry of Hölderlin, Rilke, Bruheim, and Fosse. Melodious, text-intensive songs, bare-bones, simple, and more complex. Intimate interplay with Frida Fredrikke Waaler Wærvågen, cello; Odd Hannisdal, violin; Andjei Maevski, clarinet; Frode Amundsen, tuba(!); and, not least, John Lidal on piano. These are contemplative, beautiful, sincere songs, some of them demanding, and an oddity or two — songs with wide-ranging musical expression. Moments of seeking and listening, seeing the light. Words and music to become absorbed in. Autumn foliage, a few leaves remaining on the trees, an overcast Sunday afternoon. Earth colours. A chill in the air, pebbles underfoot ...

Hege Høisæter was born and raised in Bergen. She studied in England, first privately in London, then at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She continued her studies at the National Academy of Opera in Oslo. Hege was a regular soloist with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet for 14 years until her retirement in 2016. All the while she has sung many concerts, both church and orchestral music, and has performed in numerous chamber music settings with music from different periods. Since her student days she has regularly premiered Norwegian works in both large and small arenas.