At the concert, we played a famous Norwegian song called Deilig er Jorden. In English, it means "Fair is the Earth." Almost everyone here knows it. When our band played it, the whole audience sang the words. I get goosebumps when so many people make music together. It is one of my favorite moments so far.
In the past few weeks, I also got to hear the Oslo Philharmonic twice! The Oslo Philharmonic is a big orchestra with strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. They usually play classical music. One concert included music by Edvard Grieg, the most famous composer from Norway. Grieg wrote music that sounds like the mountains, forests and fjords of this country. When you listen to his music, you can "feel" Norway. You might know one of his pieces already: "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Look it up and give it a listen!
I also took a short trip to Budapest, a beautiful city in the country of Hungary. I had tickets to a chamber orchestra concert at an important church in the city. A chamber orchestra is a small group of string musicians who play together. They played some of my favorite pieces by Mozart, Vivace and Saint-Saëns.
Norway has a lot of wonderful musical traditions. Most of them relate to the beautiful nature in Norway, which is very important to the people here. Many folk dances and songs are about mountains, animals and adventures. One special instrument from here is called the Hardanger fiddle (called the Hardingfele in Norwegian). It looks like a violin, but has extra strings underneath that make a sparkling echo. Many folk songs include the Hardanger fiddle!
I'm looking forward to sharing more with you soon!
Ha det bra! (Have a good time!)
