Monday 16 March, 19:00
(Doors open at 18:30)
Gamle Aker Church
Adult: 400 NOK
Senior/student: 300 NOK
Child: 100 NOK
Duration: approx. 1 hour
ARVO PÄRT: STABAT MATER
IVAN MOODY: SIMERON
SSENS TRIO
DITTE MARIE BRÆIN, soprano
DANIEL SÆTHER, counter-tenor
ØYSTEIN STENSHEIM, tenor
Beautiful music by Pärt and Moody
The Church Music Festival highlights the contemporary composers Arvo Pärt and Ivan Moody, with the works Stabat Mater and Simeron – two works in an intimate arrangement for three singers and three strings. Both Pärt’s and Moody’s works are characterised by the composers’ connection to the Orthodox Church. Pärt’s Stabat Mater is, like his other works, deeply rooted in the composer’s personal faith. His characteristic tintinnabuli style is closely related to his conversion to and immersion in the Orthodox Church. Recently diseased Ivan Moody (1964–2024) was also active in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and his music is closely connected with Pärt’s compositional language. Simeron takes its text from the Byzantine Holy Week Rite, written by Bishop Melito of Sardis. In Moody’s music, there is an accessible simplicity and purity, which complements Pärt’s music well. The works are performed by Ssens Trio and the singers Ditte Marie Bræin (soprano), Daniel Sæther (counter-tenor), and Øystein Stensheim (tenor).
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Ssens Trio (pronounced “essence”) was founded in 2014 by three practiced musicians with a lot of experience from international musical life: Sølve Sigerland (violin), Henninge Landaas (viola), and Ellen Margrete Flesjø (cello). The trio’s concert activity is expansive, and they have collaborated with, among others, Geir Inge Lotsberg, Håvard Gimse, and Leif Ove Andsnes. They have released several critically acclaimed recordings, with exceptional reviews in publications like Gramophone and Fanfare Magazine. With their newest recording – Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9 – they are completing a larger project with all of Beethoven’s works for string trio. A number of the trio’s recordings have received the Supersonic Award (Pizzicato) and they have been nominated for the prestigious ICMA award several times, most recently for Ricercare with Norwegian music, which was also nominated for the Opus Klassik in 2023.
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Soprano Ditte Marie Bræin regularly sings with the country’s symphony orchestras and cathedral choirs, and in the last years she has also expanded her work internationally. Bræin has collaborated with acclaimed conductors and musical directors such as Alessandro de Marchi, Ottavio Dantone, and Grete Pedersen. She has contributed to a large number of premieres – most recently Karsten Brustad’s ensemble opera Sølvsuper 24 in Bodø, with the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic, Christian Eggen (conductor), Ole Anders Tandberg (directing). She has also contributed to a number of recordings, among others MOR with Nidaros domkor, released at 2L. In 2024, she received a grant from Lilly Stiftelsen and Sine Butenschøn’s foundation, and in the period 2025–2027, she is a recipient of the Government Grant for Artists.
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Tenor Øystein Stensheim is a sought-after soloist and ensemble singer, a permanent member of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and Early Voices, and often works with genre-crossing projects within contemporary music, folk songs, and pop. He has recently performed at the National Theatre in Jon Fosse’s Draumen om hausten and is a soloist on Leif Ove Andsnes’ most recent recording, Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and conductor Grete Pedersen. He was the tenor soloist during the premiere and recording of Bent Sørensen’s St Matthew Passion (2022), which won the Norwegian Critics Prize and was nominated for a Spellemann award. Stensheim regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Barokkanerne, Oslo Circles, Vocal Art, and Musikk i Nordland.
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Counter-tenor Daniel Sæther has performed at a number of festivals and concert venues in Norway and abroad, with a repertoire spanning Baroque vocal music to newer works written for counter-tenor. As the founder and a permanent member of the Baroque ensemble Ensemble C4, Sæther has a central role in the group’s work to combine early music and newly written compositions. In August 2025, Ensemble C4 contributed on the premiere of Knut Vaage’s Tilstandar at the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival. Sæther received the Government Grant for Artists in 2018, and has an expansive discography at LAWO Classics.
Photo: Ssens Trio: Bård Gundersen, Ditte Marie Bræin: Ingvild Festervoll Melien, Daniel Sæther: Øyvind Eide, Øystein Stensheim: Kristianne Marøy
