Sony Classical has today announced the signing of Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing. The first fruits of the exclusive partnership will be a single called ‘Winter Meditation’, a new arrangement based on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, on December 17. This follows Hemsing’s performance at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo tomorrow. Her first full album for Sony will be released in autumn of 2022.

Born in Valdres, Norway, Hemsing had been a well-known child prodigy in her homeland, giving her first performance with the Bergen Philharmonic aged just 11. Her previous releases have been on the BIS label, and demonstrated her playing across a broad range of repertoire. They began with a coupling of concertos by Shostakovich and Hjalmar Borgström, a largely forgotten work from 1914. Reviewed in May 2018, the previous month we’d featured her in our One to Watch column. This was followed by an album of Dvořák and Suk, and then in 2019 by a release featuring works by Tan Dun, which was praised by our critic Pwyll ap Siôn.

‘I am thrilled beyond words to join the amazing team at Sony, and to be among their legendary roster of artists,’ said Hemsing. ‘The creative expression and global accessibility offered by recordings are hugely important to my artistic mission, and I could not be more excited for the wonderful projects that we have ahead of us!’

Hemsing earlier this week posted online a dramatic excerpt her playing Anders Hillborg's Violin Concerto No 2 with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christian Karlsen, which you watch below. 

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