Himmelskygge

Hege Høisæter

Hege Høisæter was born and raised in Bergen. She studied in London and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, then at the National Academy of Opera in Oslo. For 14 years, until 2016, she was a regular soloist with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and she has sung many church, orchestral and chamber music concerts, regularly premiering Norwegian works.

Her opera roles include Cornelia in Handel’s Julius Caesar, Gunhild in Kverndokk’s The Fourth Night Watch, Fionula in Kverndokk’s Around the World in 80 Days, Ottavia in Monteverdi’s Poppea, Jocaste in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Kabanicha in Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, and Erda, Fricka, 1st Norn and Waltraute in Wagner’s Ring cycle. She has worked with directors such as Stefan Herheim, Peter Konwitschny and Willy Decker, and with conductors including John Fiore, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alessandro De Marchi and Lothar Koenigs. She has also appeared with the Bergen Philharmonic, NOSO, the Oslo Sinfonietta and the Italian baroque ensemble Armoniosa.

Since her retirement from the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, her career has followed two parallel tracks: mature mezzo roles in Norway and abroad, including the entire Ring cycle at the Gothenburg Opera, and chamber music, with recordings and concerts around Europe.

Jorunn Marie Bratlie

Jorunn Marie Bratlie is a Norwegian concert pianist and Professor of Piano and Accompaniment at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She holds a Diplom from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover and made her debut as a concert pianist at the age of fifteen. Over more than four decades she has built a versatile career as soloist, chamber musician and accompanist, appearing as soloist with all of Norway's major orchestras and giving concerts across Norway, the United States, China and large parts of Europe. 

She is a sought-after lieder partner — notable collaborators include the tenor Kåre Bjørkøy — and her recital programmes regularly draw on Schubert, Sibelius and Rangström alongside the Norwegian song repertoire. She is co-author with Harald Jørgensen of the publication Konsentrert og meningsfull øving (2015) on focused and meaningful practice.