Experimental
Where are we?
Three women in their sixties take a look-around.
A staged performance for the church-room.
Oslo 2002.
Hurricane
For voice, cello, piano, tape, video and actor.
A scenic piece by Ketil Skøyen. Music by Nils Henrik Asheim.
This production borrows elements from performance, theatre, concert
and opera, fusing the parts into a whole.
Obstfelder Festival, Stavanger, September 2000
Autunnale Festival, Bergen, November 2000
The Torshov Theatre, Oslo, December 2000
The Other Opera, Copenhagen, February 2001
CD 2003
On the Contemporary
A series of 6 TV-programs, produced by Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
NRK-TV
Young Norwegian composers (Hofseth, Hellstenius, Thoresen, Dillan, Ratjke/Haltli,
and Asheim) have written the material that Anne-Lise Berntsen performs
in these programs.
The spectrum of musical styles ranges from pop via the tango and "classical
contemporary" to improvisation.
These series was initiated by the NRK-TV, in response to Anne-Lise Berntsen´s
narrative concert about contemporary music in the series "Europe
in Transition".
The TV series will be broadcast in 2002 and 2003.
Master Class
Anne-Lise + teaching= true!
Her classes are known to be color, dramatic and entertaining. Here she
brings her classes on stage, coaching them through dramatic arias and
introvert, romantic songs allowing the audience a glimpse of the hard
work beyond the spot lights.
The Theater of Drammen 2004
Between Voice and Silence
This performance is danced by dancer Ragni Kolle. Parts of the
performance is improvised by both dancer and instruments: voice, saxohpone,
piano and organ.
The finale will be Henryk Gorecki`s powerful prayer "O Domina Nostra",
in an arrangement for all the artists.
Oslo, Drammen 2004
Schönberg Consulting Freud
A strange and often hysterically funney mixture of Norway`s finest
cabaret group plus ALB.
Riverfestival, Drammen 2003
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Religious music
Angel’s Arrow
This is a church concert with old Norwegian religious folk songs, sung
by Anne-Lise Berntsen. The unique organ improviser and composer Nils
Henrik Asheim creates the musical frames.
The repertoire of this concert is building on, and extended from the
CD: Angels Arrow, recorded at Kirkelig Kulturverksted, Norway.
European and US tours since 1995
Come Rain
Angels Arrow continiued
CD release 2003
Meditations On the Name Jesus
Songs from the Medevial up to the Contemporary.
The Buskerud Culture Gerilla, Drammen 2002
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Advent and Christmas
A Little Child so Sweet
This concert contains religious texts exclusively.
It consists of well-known and well-loved Christmas carols, plus a few
classical gems.
Life’s Struggle and Heaven’s Harbour
This concert draws on a wide range of textual material. It describes
the human reality as a journey through darkness, towards the light of
the Christmas message.
In musical terms, the concert contends a mixture of ballads, songs and
arias.
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Art Exhibitions
Anne-Lise Berntsen "accompanies" and comments on exhibitions
of modern as well as traditional art. In an untraditional and experimental
way, she enters the theme of the epoch in case, not least by means of
the wide and varied type of repertoire that is her hallmark.
She has extensive experience in compiling, writing and performing this
type of concert. Among other for the National Academy of Design in New
York, and for a number of museums and Art galleries in Oslo, such as
the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Astrup Fearnley Museum, and the
Artists´ House.
To Whom It May Concern:
Until my recent move to The Frick Collection, I worked for several years
at the National Academy Museum in New York, which, having been founded
in 1825, is one of this country's oldest cultural institutions. At the
National Academy I produced a regular series of concert programs. During
this period since 1995, I was honored and pleased to have worked on
several occasions with the outstanding soprano Anne-Lise Berntsen who
developed very special vocal programs in conjunction with a wide variety
of our art exhibitions.
Ms. Berntsen's performances at the National Academy were consistently
breath-taking and always well attended and well received by our New
York audiences. Her programs also offered a wonderful compliment to
our exhibitions in a unique educational sense. Ms. Berntsen's conceptualization
of each program began with her own research into the related exhibition
and beautifully represented a sensibility in musical form of the aesthetic
themes we were presenting as a museum.
The development of her programs was also very much inspired by the sense
of space that the various rooms in our Fifth Avenue mansion offered
her as a performer. It was, in fact, enjoyable to work alongside Ms.
Berntsen and observe her own create process in action. I have the highest
respect for her abilities and commitment on all levels and I, therefore,
offer my highest recommendation to those who may consider working with
her on future projects.
New York 1999
Heidi Rosenau, Communications Officer, The Frick Collection
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