tiNE thiNG hElSEth - Naxos Music Library

she has also held with the Denmark Radios Symphony Orchestra, WDR SinfonieorchesterCologne and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1977 under the leadership ofTerje Tønnesen, who still works as the orchestra’s Music Director. For many years he worked inparallel with Iona Brown, who was Music and Artistic Director until 2001. From season 09/10Isabelle van Keulen will share the position as Music Director with Tønnesen and with Leif OveAndsnes as Principal Guest Director.The NCO is made up of the very best musicians in Norway who come together for specificprojects. The vision we have given ourselves is to be specialists in the entire range of classical musicrepertoire, from early music to contemporary, from serious church music to light music. Our goal is todo everything with the highest possible musical standard. At the same time we strive to presentour music and concerts in new ways and challenge our audience with new ideas and concepts.The orchestra regularly records and has a large number of recordings on labels like EMI, Virgin,Chandos, BIS and Simax. The NCO’s very first recording quickly established the orchestra’sinternational reputation: the Gramophone critic simply wrote “No record has given me morepleasure and few as much”. EMI’s recording of three Haydn Concertos with Leif Ove Andsnesreceived the Gramophone Concerto Award for 2000. This was followed up by two recordings ofMozart Piano Concertos (Nos. 9 & 18 and Nos.17 & 20). Both received fantastic reviews in theBritish magazine Gramophone, and in the New York Times, and were also nominated for theprestigious Grammy award for 2005 and 2008. For the first time, Andsnes and the NCO are alsoavailable on DVD (EMI) with music by Mozart and Bach.The orchestra tours regularly and have several times visited Halls and Festivals like the Proms andCarnegie Hall, and toured with artists like Mstislav Rostropovich, Joshua Bell, Radu Lupu, JoannaMacGregor and Leif Ove Andsnes. Concert appearances include visits to USA, Canada, UK,Central Europe and Asia.NCO regularly gives a series of subscription concerts in Oslo and frequently performs in othercities in Norway and Scandinavia. Since 1995 the orchestra has presented their own ‘Oslo WinterNights’ festival every second year.13