Aksel is currently studying towards a degree in musicology at the University of Oslo. At the moment he is an exchange student at Goldsmiths College in London. He is also a choral singer and a trombonist. His musical interests include 20th-cenury French music, Baroque opera and the music of Richard Strauss.
Chrisoph Loy's new Oslo production of Eugene Onegin only somewhat succeeds in its desire to create a meditation on loneliness, but superb musical performances still make it an utterly compelling piece of music theatre.
Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic's Mahler Nine seemed unaware of what it wanted to be, resulting in a frustratingly directionless, disjointed concert.
In an unusually convincing concert performance, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Finnish National Opera emphasised the lyrical aspects of Wagner's Das Rheingold.
Bookending a concert with Die Seejungfrau and La Mer, Klaus Mäkelä and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra offered two very different musical depictions of water and the ocean.
Opening Stockholm’s Baltic Sea Festival, professionals and amateurs came together for a joyous and ultimately hopeful performance of Benjamin Britten’s story of Noah’s Ark.
“I have never been that nervous! Not before or since!” says Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen about his appearance in the final round of the 2007 Queen Sonja International Music Competition in Oslo. The aria he was about to sing – “Da geh’ ich zu Maxim” from The Merry Widow – was familiar enough, but before this competition he had only performed it in a Danish translation.
Ralph Vaughan Williams' towering A Sea Symphony and the orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet capped off the Oslo opera season in a singularly loud fashion.
Bergen Philharmonic’s programme of Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Gubaidulina’s violin concerto Offertorium offered fascinating insight into the relationship between orchestra and soloist.
Berlioz’s gargantuan Grande Messe des morts with the Bergen Philharmonic and Edward Gardner opened the Bergen International Festival with deafening climaxes and even more resounding silence.
At their recital at the Bergen International Festival, Bryn Terfel and pianist Caradog Williams presented a programme of overwhelming sameness and neverending joviality.
Ahead of his new production of the tragic opera at Savonlinna Opera Festival, we talk to the director about his plans for the work and his background in circus.
Dénise Beck shines as the Princess Sidi in the Royal Danish Opera's production of Friedrich Kuhlau's Lulu, receiving its first performances in 180 years.
The first staging of Bellini's Norma in Oslo in over a century is unfortunately hampered by an irritating production, yet some glorious singing does much to rescue the show.
Christoph Loy's Oslo production of Wozzeck is a dramatic triumph, with gripping performances from a cast led by Audun Iversen's desperate title character.
Playing music by Copland, Hovland and Sibelius, the Oslo Philharmonic and Dalia Stasevska gave exciting performances, even though the quality of the music did not always match.
Following some rhythmically challenged Ginastera, Horia Andreescu and the Russian National Orchestra impress with confidently played MacMillan and Tchaikovsky.
