Ragnhild Hemsing (born 15 February 1988 in

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre S ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

) is a Norwegian classical violinist and the older sister of classical violinist, Eldbjørg Hemsing.

Biography

Ragnhild Hemsing was born on 15 February 1988, in

. She began to play the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

when she was five years old. She enrolled at the

Barratt Due Institute of Music The Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, Norway, is a music education institute founded in 1927 by pianist Mary Barratt Due and violinist Henrik Adam Due. It is situated in Fagerborg in Oslo and is a private foundation which receives governme ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

at the age of nine. Later, she studied in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

with

Boris Kuschnir Boris Kuschnir (born 1948) is a Soviet Austrian violinist Background and early life Born in Kiev in 1948, he studied violin with at the Moscow Conservatoire and chamber music with Valentin Berlinsky of the Borodin Quartet. Career His many encou ...

. Hemsing debuted at age 14 with both the

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra ( Norwegian: Bergen filharmoniske orkester) is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall. History Established in 1765 under the name ''Det Musicalske Selskab'' (The M ...

and the

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera ( Norwegian: ''Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera'') is a Norwegian orchestra based in Trondheim, Norway. Its principal concert venue is the Olavshallen. The orchestra is organised as a trust and receives ...

playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. The following year she performed with the

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra The Oslo Philharmonic () is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was esta ...

. She has performed with the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ukrainian National Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kazan State Orchestra in Russia, among others. She has performed with Norway’s leading orchestras, including the aforementioned Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the

, and the

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (, SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Stavanger, Norway. The SSO principal venue is the Stavanger Concert Hall (Stavanger konserthus), performing in the Fartein Valen concert hall. History The Norwegian Broad ...

. Hemsing won the Sparre Olsen competition in 2005. Hemsing plays on a Francesco Ruggeri violin built in

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

in 1694, on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.

Appearances

Hemsing has appeared at concert halls across Norway, including the

Bergen International Festival Bergen International Festival () is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway. In Spring 2022, Lars Petter Hagen took over as festival director. Biography The Bergen International festival is the largest festival ...

, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Hardingtonar Festival, and Førde International World Music Festival, where she has been combining folk programmes with classical repertoire. As a recitalist, she has also performed at the Northern Lights in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and the Stavanger, Trondheim, and Harstad International Chamber Music Festivals, and at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

, the

Verbier Festival The Verbier Festival is a two week annual international music festival which is held in late July and early August in the mountain resort of Verbier southeast of Lausanne, Switzerland. Begun by Swedish expatriate in 1994, it has attracted int ...

, Bellerive Festival in Switzerland and AlpenKlassik in Germany, amongst others. In 2011, she performed at the Cheltenham festival together with Leif Ove Andsnes and

Tine Thing Helseth Tine Thing Helseth ( ; born 18 August 1987) is a Norwegian trumpet soloist specializing in classical repertoire. Career Helseth was born in Oslo. She started to play trumpet at the age of 7 in a school band and studied at the Barratt Due Ins ...

. Hemsing has performed at the

Nobel Peace Prize Concert The Nobel Peace Prize Concert ( Norwegian and Swedish: '')'' has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in Oslo City Hall, while the concert has been ...

. Along with her sister, Eldbjørg Hemsing, she recorded a 60-minute documentary on the life of the famous Norwegian violinist

Ole Bull Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Biography Background Bull was ...

, which received a special EBU award. In 2013 she was awarded the Beethoven Ring at the annual Beethoven Festival in Bonn.

Honors

*2003: First Prize and European Union Prize at the Kocian International Violin Competition in the Czech Republic *2003: First Prize and Special Prize at the European Music Prize for Youth *2005: Sparre Olsen-prisen *2013: Beethoven Ring to the best concert performed during the annual Beethoven Festival in Bonn

Discography

* 2011: ''YR' (Simax) * 2011: ''Johan Halvorsen: Orchestral Works Volume 3'' (Chandos), with Marianne Thorsen and the

conducted by

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

* 2011: ''Varde'' (Kvarts and Hemsing), with Kvarts and Eldbjørg Hemsing * 2017: ''Northern Timbre'' (2L), with Tor Espen Aspaas * 2020: ''Beethoven's Testaments Of 1802'' (2L) with Tor Espen Aspaas * 2021: ''Røta'' ( Berlin Classics) * 2022: ''Peer Gynt'' (Berlin Classics) with

Trondheim Soloists Trondheim Soloists () are a musical chamber ensemble of string players based in Trondheim, Norway. The ensemble was founded in 1988 and has been an arena for professional concert training for string-players at the Music Conservatory at the Norwe ...

* 2023: ''BRUCH+TVEITT'' (Berlin Classics) - compositions by

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

Geirr Tveitt Geirr Tveitt (born Nils Tveit; 19 October 1908 – 1 February 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. Life Early years Tveitt was born in Be ...

, and others. * 2023: ''Vetra: my Norwegian winter'' (Berlin Classics)

References

External links

*
The Hemsing Festival

Interview in German with the classical portal Classicpoint.net

Johan Halvorsen Musikkfest 2015

Konzertdirektion Martin Müller

YR - Ragnhild Hemsing & Hallgrim Hansegård (www.frikar.com)
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemsing, Ragnhild Norwegian classical violinists Barratt Due Institute of Music alumni People from Valdres 1988 births Living people 21st-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian women singers 21st-century Norwegian classical violinists Women classical violinists