GREAT CHINA TOUR CHAMBER MUSIC SKASEI String Trio, Norway, 2011 | SKASEI String Trio, Norway, 2011 |
  Tour Dates
Tour Dates: 8 Apr - 19 Apr, 2011 "(…) impressively accurate in the fast movements and the slow movements (…) were sensitive and beautifully performed. "
Ingerine Dahl, violin SKASEI TRIO Composed of these three outstanding musicians, SKASEI has held concerts in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, South-Africa and Japan since January 2006. In the summer of 2007 they performed at the Bergen International Festival in Norway and for the Zinetti Competition Festival in Verona, Italy with great acclaim (Stavanger Aftenblad/ Aftenposten / L'Arena) and enthusiastic audiences. SKASEI Trio won the recording contract and "Artist in Residence" prize in the Gaetano Zinetti Competition in Verona and the SHELL scholarship, both in May 2006. They have performed Mozart and Haydn string quartets with Fabio Biondi and have studied with, amongst others, Frans Brüggen, Leif Segerstam and Alexander Rudin. In June 2007 they recorded their first CD "SKASEI-classic" with works by Beethoven and Mozart with Azzurra Music in Italy. In August 2009 SKASEI performed their own production of H.C. Andersen's fairytale "The Nightingale" at the International Chamber Music Festival of Stavanger. Since 2008 SKASEI trio has had its own monthly concert series in the Cathedral of Stavanger including exciting projects like "Goldberg Dances" with internationally acclaimed dancer Kahlil Calder. 2010 is filled with a great project by Shell and the leading Norwegian record label Simax which includes a world-premiere recording of pieces written for SKASEI trio by Kyrre Sassebo Haaland and a extensive tour of central Europe. In March 2010 they will give several concerts in and around New York. SKASEI trio has been invited to the prominent chamber music series in Nancy 2011.
SKASEI is a professional string trio based in Stavanger, Norway. Despite its connections to Stavanger it is still very much an international ensemble with members from Norway, Finland and South-Africa! The members of SKASEI Trio all hold principal positions in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (www.sso.no). Ingerine Dahl is the violinist of the trio and currently the co-2nd Concertmaster in Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Born in 1980 in Stavanger, Norway, she started playing the violin at the age of 3 and entered the music conservatory at the age of 13. After six years with Prof. Veselka in Stavanger, she continued her violin studies with Prof. Vitek at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, with Prof. Piguet-Karafilova at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and with Prof. Herzl at the "Mozarteum" in Salzburg. Ingerine has been soloist with Norwegian and Danish orchestras and has participated in master classes with masters including György Pauk, Eduard Melkus, Dora Schwartzberg, Alexander Kerr, Isabelle van Keulen and Christian Tetzlaff. Her professional orchestral experience started already in 1998 and she played in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Odense Ensembelet, The Royal Danish Opera, The Danish Radio Orchestras, Lausanne Sinfonietta and the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra. In 2006 she was soloist with Bruch and Beethoven violin concertos, and in June 2007 she finished her Master's Degree at the University of Stavanger. She is a renowned a soloist and chamber musician, receiving several high-ranked awards and prizes, amongst others the Shell-prize and SR-Bank's G9alt scholarship in 2002-3. She has won prizes in Norwegian and Danish violin competitions, in the Swiss Jeunesse Musicale Trio Competition, and the Gaetano Zinetti Chamber Music Competition in Italy (with SKASEI Trio). Wouter Raubenheimer is currently associate principal viola in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Born in 1977, he grew up in Pretoria, South-Africa, where he received his initial music education. He completed his Bachelors of Music under Professor Alan Solomon at the University of Pretoria. In 1999 he was granted a scholarship to study at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland where as a part of Camerata Lysy, he had concert tours in Europe and South-America. In 2002 he completed his Masters degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow after which he played part-time with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Scottish Chamber and Scottish Ensemble for two years. He is currently also guest-playing in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Born in 1976 in Finland, Ilmari Hopkins is the Co-Principal cellist of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Norway. He began his professional training with Anatoly Nikitin, (assistant of Rostropovich) at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory in Russia, and obtained his postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music of Stockholm (class of Torleif Thedéen, disciple of Tortelier). First prize recipient of the Lahti Chamber Music Competition, Ilmari has also performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Lima Philarmonic, the Lima Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. As a guest artist he has taken part in the following festivals: Mlada Praha Festival of Prague, Bergen Festspillene, the International Chamber Music Festival of Stavanger, Lukas David Chamber Music Festival of Lima, Peru, and Music Festival of Aghios Nikolaos, Crete. In Japan he has given solo recitals in Tochigi and Fukushima. He has also performed in South Africa, at the Musaion Hall of Pretoria, and given recitals in Pasto, Colombia, invited by Banco de la Nación. Ilmari's recordings include broadcastings for the Swedish Radio, live broadcastings for the Chicago Classical Radio WFMT 98,7 FM, and a solo CD with music by Sibelius, Grieg, de Falla and Ginastera, to be released by the Argentinean label Tradition in 2009. Since 2004, Ilmari has served as a faculty member of the Music department of Stavanger University and the St. Svithun Music High School, giving individual classes as well as teaching chamber music and orchestral technique. He has also given master classes in Peru, Brazil and South Africa. Since 2008 he has been serving as cello faculty of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.
Reviews "With their first album SKASEI manages to give a brilliant impression also without the stage presence (…). In the introduction of the Beethoven trio the melodic outbursts get the right improvisational character, light and with delicate phrasing. The second movement is beautifully formed with a fine balance of the sound. The excellent balance between the three instruments is also notable in Mozart, making the trio almost sound like a quartet. In the Mozart second movement, where the composer didn't give any dynamic markings to the players, sounds sweet and expressive. The two minuets are performed with grace and the final Allegro is completed with impressive transparency and subtleness." "SKASEI had a firm grasp on Haaland's newly written pieces; all of the three musicians played with great precision and a bold sound. … beautifully executed…" "(…) impressively accurate in the fast movements and the slow movements (…) were sensitive and beautifully performed." |
