Who were your principal teachers?

My teacher at the Bergen Music Conservatory (now Grieg Academy) was the Czech-born Jiri Hlinka. Later on I met the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège, who I studied with on and off for many years.

Beyond your teachers, who have been the biggest musical influences on you?

Chamber music partners and conductors. Early on I was lucky to work regularly with wonderful musicians such as violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the Artemis Quartet and baritone Matthias Goerne. Certain conductors took me under their wings, and I would say that Paavo Berglund particularly became a big influence on me. I loved the way he worked with the orchestra, his attention to detail, rhythmical figures, differentiation of sound. He wasn’t a concert animal, but nevertheless I remember certain concerts very well – especially his Sibelius, which was unforgettable. I have also learnt a lot through long-term collaborations with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

If you could take just one recording to a desert island, what would it be?

JS Bach’s St John Passion with John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists from the 1980s. There is no greater music than this.

What was your most recent musical discovery?

What was the last thing you were practising?

A recital programme that I am doing at the moment, including Grieg’s Piano Sonata, Op 7, Geirr Tveitt’s huge Sonata No 29 and Chopin’s Preludes, Op 28.

Which solo piece would you most love to learn but haven’t yet got around to playing?

Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. And more Debussy, such as all the Préludes.

Which piano concertos should be heard in concert more often?

I think the Britten Concerto is strangely neglected. I have played this work since I was 22, but it is seldom performed outside the UK. It is a very colourful piece which both orchestras and audiences react very positively to.

Which composers are the most underrated or wrongly neglected?

I think that Dvořák is an underrated composer. He wrote so much wonderful music in all genres and much of it is not appreciated enough. His piano music is basically forgotten, but I was very happy to record and play often in concert his Poetic Tone Pictures, Op 85. This is a glorious one-hour-long cycle.

Some composers have an uneven output but with really fantastic pieces that should be played. The Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar is one of these. His Serenade for Orchestra haunts me. It is so beautiful, refined and deeply nostalgic. I don’t understand why it isn’t more often performed.

What are the major works you’re playing over the coming months?

Chopin’s Preludes, Geirr Tveitt’s Sonata No 29, Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto, Franck’s Symphonic Variations, four-hand pieces by Schubert and Louis Vierne’s Piano Quintet, to name just a few.

Do you have a personal favourite of your own recordings?

I come back to Dvořák’s Poetic Tone Pictures. I recorded this in the middle of the pandemic, a period when I needed projects like this in order to feel creative. There was a special sense of exploring new terrain, of finding and refining musical jewels.

Do you have any concert memories that especially stand out?

When I was 14, I played my first full solo recital in my home town, Haugesund, with a very big programme: Handel, Mozart, Chopin’s Second Piano Sonata, Liszt, Norwegian contemporary music. I remember that I was very taken by the fact that the audience seemed to want to be there and listen to a whole evening with me at the piano. And they seemed to enjoy it. I think that was the real start for me, realising the potential of sharing music with others.

This feature originally appeared in the SPRING 2025 issue of International Piano