Lars Bremnes has released five albums with his own melodies and lyrics. He was raised in a family that loved music and singing, and his collaboration with his musical sister and brother, Kari and Ola, has served as a great inspiration to him. He can be heard often on the radio, and songs such as “Å kunne æ skrive” and “Berg og bare” are found in the school songbook. His lyrics often contain a touch of humour. In 2004 he won first prize for the best radio drama in a European public service broadcasting competition. His most recent CD, Hjertekaptein, won a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) in 2007. He has described his collaboration with Annar By as extremely inspiring, both because By has a background in folk music and because he is an exceptionally gifted guitarist. (www.larsbremnes.no)

Annar By is a trained traditional vocalist, and the multi-faceted folk music of Østerdalen has provided him with a good deal of his inspiration. His music is authentic, straightforward and clear. He draws from a variety of musical sources, and his repertoire ranges from old broadside ballads and hymns to self-composed Norwegian texts and melodies inspired by both modern and traditional folk music. His guitar style is a dazzling combination of tradition and innovation. In 2006 he released his first CD, Folk, gitar og sang, which won the Norwegian Folk Music Award for “Newcomer of the Year” (www.annarby.com)

Helene Høye comes from a family with roots in Ringebu, where she lived from the age of 10 and onwards. She learned to play the fiddle in the local music school, and was inspired and guided by her grandfather, Pål Høye, who was the leader of Ringebu Spelemannslag, the local fiddlers’ association. For many years Helene Høye participated in numerous festivals, competitions, and radio and television shows as a member of Sør-Fron Spelemannslag. She has presented concerts in Norway and abroad as part of a duo she formed with fiddler Mari Eggen. She also performs as a solo artist. From 2003 to 2005 she studied at the School for Instrumental Studies at the Ole Bull Academy in Voss, a course for soloists in the traditional folk music genre. There she studied with Knut Kjøk, a traditional fiddler from Lom in northern Gudbrandsdalen, who is one of the richest sources of the most ancient melodies and is a tradition-bearer of the district’s musical “dialect”. Helene Høye has composed a number of her own melodies in the traditional style of the valley. Her CD Den lykkelige frier was awarded a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) in 1992.

Tom W. Rustad is head of the department of traditional music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He plays guitar, diatonic accordion, contrabass, Jew’s harp and willow flute. At the Academy he teaches the history of traditional music, transcription and analysis, ensemble, and various instruments. He has a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar and a master’s degree in diatonic accordion. He has won a number of international awards for his accordion and Jew’s harp performance. He had been nominated twice previously for a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) before winning the prize for his CD Kvarts. He has taught for many years at various institutions of higher learning, including the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the Institute of Folk Culture at Telemark College in Rauland, and the Ole Bull Academy. In 2003 one his pupils, Mona Holm, won the World Championship for diatonic accordion in Tyrol. He has written two books about how to play the diatonic accordion. In 1993 Tom W. Rustad composed a suite for diatonic accordion and orchestra, and since then he has composed and arranged music for various orchestras and choirs.

Domitila Ballesteros has been an organ teacher for many years. She served as a substitute professor for organ studies at the School of Music of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in organ from the UFRJ. She has attended courses abroad, including master classes with professors Mas Bonet, Peter Planyavsky, Michael Radulescu, Matteo Imbruno and Ludger Lohmann. She has had a distinguished career as a concert artist in Brazil. She presented a series of concerts in the region of Brittany, France, in the cities of Ploermel, Fougères, Rennes and St. Malo, as one of the participants in the events celebrating “The Year of Brazil in France” in 2005.She was a recitalist at the International Organ Festival in Hasselt, Belgium, as part of the series Seven Women – Well-Known Musicians. Domitila Ballesteros performed the opening organ concert at the XXI International Organ Festival in Montevideo, Uruguay. She is currently the President of the Institute of Culture and Organistic Art (www.arteorganistica.org.br), based in Rio de Janeiro. (www.ballesteros.mus.br)

Camilla Granlien has a master’s degree in traditional arts from Telemark University College, and has devoted intensive study to the song tradition of Gudbrandsdalen. She began teaching folk music at Vinstra Upper Secondary School in 1997, and she also teaches vocal folk music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She has participated in the Peer Gynt competition in Vinstra, the Osa Festival in Voss, the Bergen International Festival, the Telemark Festival in Bø, the Blåklokkevikua Festival in Ringsaker, the Literature Festival in Lillehammer, tours for Concerts Norway, concerts in Telemark, and various other events both in Norway and abroad. In 2005 she released her first solo recording, Begjær, featuring folk songs from Gudbrandsdalen. In 2007 her CD Camilla Granlien Band was released. In 2006 she appeared in a production of Peer Gynt at the Delacorte Theater in New York, and in the summer of 2007 she appeared in Peer Gynt ved Gålåvatnet in Vinstra. Camilla Granlien holds courses at venues such as the Ole Bull Academy in Voss, and has participated as a performer or jury member at several competitions. She won first prize as a vocalist in the elite Category A in the National Contest for Traditional Music in 2006 and 2007.

Matteo Imbruno was born in Pietramontecorvino, a town in the “heel” of Italy. His experience with classical music started after he graduated from high school, when he began studying the organ at the Foggia Conservatory at the age of 19. Later he enrolled in several master classes given by organists with international reputations, including Harold Vogel, Michel Chapuis, Montserrat Torrent and Michael Radulescu. Under Radulescu’s guidance he devoted himself for two years solely to the organ works of J. S. Bach. Prior to this he had specialised in Italian organ music of the 15th and 16th centuries under Liuwe Tamminga in Bologna. This also gave him the opportunity to become acquainted with organs of this era. Since 1989 Matteo Imbruno has lived in the Netherlands where, in 1997, he earned a “performing musician” diploma as a student at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Bernard Winsemius) and the Utrecht Conservatory (Jan Welmers). Later he began studying at the University of Music Lübeck (Germany) with Martin Haselböck. Matteo Imbruno is currently engaged as the organist for the Oude Kerk Foundation in Amsterdam, where he has been organising organ series for a number of years. In addition, he is a regular concert performer in Europe, Japan and the USA, and has recorded four CDs featuring various historic organs. (www.oudekerk.nl)

Georg Michael Reiss has been a highly regarded clarinetist in a variety of musical genres for over 30 years. He is one of Norway’s leading clarinetists, especially within the genres of New Orleans-style jazz and various types of folk music. He will be celebrating his 50^th birthday on the very day of the concert, and can look back on 25 years as a free-lance musician. He studied clarinet at the Norwegian Academy of Music and at Guildhall School of Music in London, and has played in the Norwegian National Youth Orchestra. Under the auspices of Concert Norway he has given concerts in schools and kindergartens since 1979. In the course of his musical career he has recorded countless albums, mostly within the jazz and ragtime genres, and has been a major figure at festivals, concert tours, church concerts and clubs. Reiss has taught clarinet at Tranberg, Stange and Foss Upper Secondary Schools. He has played with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, as well as on most of Oslo’s theatre and cabaret stages.

Jürgen Essl is from Kirchheim/Teck, Germany. He studied organ under Professor Ludger Lohmann in Stuttgart and Michael Radulescu in Vienna, and composition in Bordeaux. When he completed his studies he was engaged as an organist in Sigmaringen. He taught at the University of Music Lübeck, and has taught at the University of Music Stuttgart since 2003. He received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) grant from Art Foundation Baden-Württemberg. Jürgen Essl is an internationally recognised concert organist, interpreter, composer and improviser. His frequent concert appearances as both soloist and composer have taken him to places and events such as  Linz, Graz, Gmunder Festwochen, the Trevisor Organ Festival, Lisbon, Leiden, Milan, Cracow, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Smetana Hall of Municipal House in Prague, Cologne Cathedral, the Madeleine Church in Paris, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and he has also played with the Moscow Philharmonic. He has given numerous master classes in colleges and academies throughout Europe. In addition to organ works, his compositions encompass choir, ensemble and orchestral works. Jürgen Essl’s CDs have received critical acclaim. He received the Baden-Württemberg Composition Award in 2003 and the Passau Cultural Award in 2007(www.juergen-essl.com)

Tine Thing Helseth began to play the trumpet at the age of seven. At the age of ten she had her first major performance as a soloist with an orchestra at the opening of the Cathedral Ruins in Hamar, Norway. Despite her young age, she has already won several soloist competitions. She is a student in the conservatory class of Arnulf Naur Nilsen at the Barratt Due Institute of Music. In 2006 she won second prize in the “Eurovision Young Musicians Contest” in Vienna, which was televised live all over Europe. She received the prestigious Swedish-Norwegian “Prince Eugene’s Cultural Award” from Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden in Stockholm and the Luitpold Prize at the Kissinger Summer Festival in Germany in 2007. She has performed in many major venues in Norway and abroad. She began 2008 with engagements as a soloist with the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at their New Year’s concert. Her recordings have received rave reviews in all of Norway’s newspapers and other media. She will be travelling to England to launch her new CD. She won a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) as “Newcomer of the Year” in 2008. (www.tinethinghelseth.com)

Hijoo Moon was born in Incheon, Korea. She began taking piano lessons with Professors Ju-On Jun and Hee-Kyung Jun at the age of eight. From 1986 to 1990 she studied at the Seoul Theological University: organ (Prof. Kum-Ok Bek), harpsichord (Prof. Kum-Hee Kim), piano (Prof. Hee-Kyung Na) and church music (Bachelor’s Degree). From 1991 to 1993 she studied with Prof. Zsigmond Szathmáry at the University of Music in Freiburg (Master’s Degree).From 1993 to 1994 she studied with Prof. Rocus van den Heuvel at the Utrecht Conservatory (PhD). She has participated in master classes and taken private lessons with Wolfgang Zerer (Hamburg), Piet Kee (Haarlem), Klaus-Martin Ziegler (Kassel) and Guy Bovet (Basel) among others. Hijoo Moon has given numerous concerts and has made many recordings as an organist, harpsichordist and pianist in her homeland, as well as in Hong Kong, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, Hungary and Norway. In 1996-97 she was engaged as cantor and organist at Ljan Church in Oslo and in 1997 at the 600-year-old church at Nesodden. She was also artistic director of the Nesodden International Music Festival. She is a piano and organ teacher at Ringebu School of the Arts. Since 2005 she has served as cantor and organist at the famous stave church in Ringebu, Norway. (www.stavechurch.no)