Leif Ove Andsnes’s summer highlights include final season of his Rosendal Chamber Music Festival in Norway

Leif Ove Andsnes (photo: Gregor Hohenberg)

(June 2025) — As the founder and artistic director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival – “a utopian place for utopian musicians” (The Arts Desk, UK) – Leif Ove Andsnes presents the festival’s ninth and final season this summer. Featuring performances by the Norwegian pianist and a host of distinguished guest artists, this year’s edition of the festival celebrates its roots in Norway’s Hardanger region, from which Grieg, Geirr Tveitt, and resident composer Knut Vaage all drew inspiration (Aug 6–10). Andsnes’s other summer highlights include solo recitals at Germany’s Ruhr Piano Festival (June 11), Alte Oper Frankfurt (June 13), and Spannungen Chamber Music Festival, where he also premieres a new work with violinist Christian Tetzlaff (June 15–20), and appearances at the Oslo Chamber Music Festival (Aug 15) and Oslo Jazz Festival (Aug 16). These engagements follow the success of Andsnes’s recent Sony Classical release, Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works – one of “the best classical albums of 2025 so far” (The Times of London) – and the announcement of his most recent honor: Northwestern University’s prestigious 2025 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance.

Final season of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival

Founded by Andsnes in 2016, the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival returns for its final season this summer (Aug 6–10). Under his artistic direction, the festival takes place in an idyllic Norwegian village, reached by boat from Bergen airport. Set against a breathtaking backdrop of mountains, fjord, and sea, the Baroniet Rosendal Manor House and Gardens date from 1665, offering visitors a glimpse of Norwegian history in one of the country’s most spectacular natural settings. Norway’s Hardanger region has been the inspiration for many Norwegian artists. These include featured composers Grieg, represented by his String Quartet, Holberg Suite, and songs; the prolific but long-neglected Geirr Tveitt, represented by songs and his only surviving piano sonata; and resident composer Knut Vaage, a nominee for the Nordic Council Music Prize, whose featured works include three world premieres. As well as exploring the influence on Grieg of Mendelssohn and Schumann, the 2025 festival also pays homage to Ravel, now celebrating his 150th anniversary, and to Shostakovich, who died 50 years ago this year. Andsnes explains:

“It is with mixed emotions that I share with you that this year’s festival will be my last. I look back with immense gratitude on a wonderful ten-year period, in which we have explored a wealth of repertoire and musical ideas in Rosendal. It seems fitting that for our final festival, we take inspiration from the surrounding region of Hardanger, and celebrate three composers who have all had a close connection with this incredible landscape and its community.”

As in previous seasons, the festival’s chamber programs and discussions feature the pianist himself alongside a stellar roster of guests. This summer, these are the Swedish-Norwegian string quartet Opus13, winner of the First Prize and five Special Prizes at the 2025 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition; Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene, winner of the 2019 Carl Nielsen Competition and Gramophone’s 2022 Young Artist of the Year; British violist Timothy Ridout, whose honors include a Gramophone Award and first prize at both the Lionel Tertis and Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competitions; Austrian cellist Julia Hagen, winner of the 2024 UBS Young Artist Award; flutist and Norwegian Grammy nominee Cecilie Løken Hesselberg; Finnish clarinetist Björn Nyman, principal clarinet of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra; leading Scandinavian recorder player Caroline E. Dahl; lutenist Jadran Duncumb, a former finalist for the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year; viola da gamba player André Lislevand, one of whose recordings was recognized with France’s Diapason Découverte; soprano Mari Eriksmoen, whose credits include La Scala, Glyndebourne, and the Salzburg Festival; countertenor Daniel Sæther, a nominee for Opus Klassik’s 2021 Singer of the Year; tenor Eirik Grøtvedt, winner of the 2023 Norwegian Soloist Prize and 2025 Equinor Award; harpsichordist and organist Christian Kjos, a founding member of the award-winning, Swiss-based Ensemble Meridiana; Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, First Prize winner at the 2010 International Chopin Piano Competition; organist, choir conductor, and pianist Knut Christian Jansson, performing on piano; and James Baillieu, a collaborative pianist “in a class of his own” (The Telegraph, UK). Small wonder that Gramophone magazine recently featured a letter from Jonn Karl Sætre Valen, a resident of Norway’s west coast, who writes:

“For people in the area with an interest in classical music, the period of the annual chamber music festival has been almost unreal. International stars such as Víkingur Ólafsson, Matthias Goerne, Steven Isserlis and Julia Hagen – to name a few – have given us goosebumps. The musicians Andsnes has gathered for the festivals every year are at such a spectacular level that it can be compared to Real Madrid coming to Rosendal and playing a match against the local football team (Norwegian bottom level).”

Next summer, Baroniet Rosendal will launch a new summer concert series, with Andsnes as artistic advisor. Meanwhile, the complete 2025 festival program is available here.

Solo recitals and more in Germany and Norway

Earlier in the summer, Andsnes gives two solo recitals in Germany, at the Ruhr Piano Festival (June 11) and Frankfurt’s Alte Oper (June 13) respectively. Together with Grieg’s sole piano sonata, and the poetic miniatures of Chopin’s 24 Preludes, the pianist’s program showcases – as at Rosendal (Aug 7) – the “Sonata Etere,” the only surviving piano sonata by his little-known compatriot Geirr Tveitt. Andsnes performed the same program on his recent U.S. tour. Of his interpretation of the complete Chopin preludes, the Minnesota Star Tribune marveled: “Andsnes made them a fascinating odyssey, an expertly articulated compendium of myriad emotions and moods delivered with technical precision and heartfelt expressiveness.” As for the Tveitt sonata, Seen and Heard International reports:

“I found the work stunning and can only thank Leif Ove Andsnes for his boldness and commitment in mastering the strange and glorious piece. … We were all caught up in the strange genius of the work, which Andsnes hypnotically conveyed.”

Andsnes reprises Chopin’s complete preludes at Germany’s Spannungen Chamber Music Festival, “TENSIONS 2025,” where he also takes part in performances of György Kurtág’s Hommage à R. Schumann and Vierne’s Piano Quintet, as well as joining artistic director Christian Tetzlaff for the world premiere of Winter Sonata by Abbado Prize-winning South Korean composer Donghoon Shin (June 15–20). Andsnes and the German violinist are musical partners of long standing. After one of their previous performances, The Scotsman characterized the two as “simply in a class of their own,” adding: “Their truly collaborative musical language was one which spoke with direct humanity to connect with the audience on a seldom experienced, deep, emotional level.”

To complete his summer lineup, Andsnes makes back-to-back festival appearances in the Norwegian capital. At the Opening Concert of the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, he takes part in accounts of Mozart’s A-major Violin Sonata and Vierne’s Piano Quintet (Aug 15). Next day, at the Oslo Jazz Festival, he joins Norwegian jazz saxophonist Marius Neset and friends for music from their innovative collaborative recording, Who We Are(Aug 16). Gramophone hailed this release as “an imaginatively conceived album featuring performances of dazzling quality that do not so much combine classical with jazz as forge unique and compelling styles of their own.”

Liszt album success

Almost a quarter century after first devoting a recording solely to the music of Franz Liszt, Andsnes turned to the composer’s less familiar sacred music, revealing something of Liszt’s deeply held faith on Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works. Released by Sony Classical in April, the new album combines Liszt’s Via Crucis, recorded with the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, with his Consolations for solo piano and two movements from his Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.

The critical response has been uniformly rapturous. “No other pianist (or organist) has taken on this repertoire with such depth or understanding. … All in all, a new benchmark for Via Crucis,” declared Gramophone magazine, which named the album an “Editor’s Choice.”

The Times of London welcomed Andsnes’s accounts of the solo works as “27 minutes of solo piano music, most sensitively delivered,” while likening the experience of listening to Via Crucis to time spent “on our knees, at one with the composer’s soul.”

Selecting the recording as its “Album of the Week,”, Germany’s BR-Klassik found Via Crucis to be performed “in a gripping and unpretentious manner, allowing the music to unfold beautifully, thoughtfully, and introspectively, continually astonishing at its spectacularly contemporary impact.” As for the solo works, “Andsnes plays these quiet, at times intimately crafted pieces with a highly differentiated sound, impressively rounding off this special Liszt album. Magnificent!”

Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance

Last month, it was announced that Andsnes had been awarded the 2025 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance by the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. Established in 2005, the biennial award honors pianists who have achieved the highest levels of national and international recognition. The previous winners are Richard Goode (2006), Stephen Hough (2008), Yefim Bronfman (2010), Murray Perahia(2012), Garrick Ohlsson (2014), Emanuel Ax (2016), Marc-André Hamelin (2018), Sir András Schiff (2021), and Maria João Pires (2023).

In addition to a $75,000 cash award, the prize includes a public recital and two residencies at the Bienen School of Music. During his first residency in March 2026, Andsnes will engage with students and faculty through masterclasses, chamber music coaching, question-and-answer sessions, and other activities. He will also give a public recital in the Skyline Piano Artist Series on March 9, before returning for his second Bienen School residency in February 2027. He says:

“I am very honored to receive the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize. I am very much looking forward to spending some time at Northwestern University and connecting with the students and audiences there.”

The pianist’s previous honors include the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award, the Gilmore Artist Award, the Peer Gynt Prize, Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, and honorary doctorates from Norway’s Universities of Bergen and Oslo and from New York’s Juilliard School.

Leif Ove Andsnes: upcoming engagements

June 11
Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
Ruhr Piano Festival
Solo recital:
GRIEG: Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7
TVEITT: Piano Sonata, Op. 129, “Sonata Etere”
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28

June 13
Frankfurt, Germany
Alte Oper
Solo recital:
GRIEG: Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7
TVEITT: Piano Sonata, Op. 129, “Sonata Etere”
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28

June 15–20
Heimbach, Germany
Spannungen Chamber Music Festival: TENSIONS 2025

June 15
CHOPIN: 24 Preludes, Op. 28

June 17
György KURTÁG: Hommage à R. Schumann (with Sharon Kam, clarinet; Jan Larsen, viola)

June 19
VIERNE: Piano Quintet (with Isabelle Faust & Hyeyoon Park, violins; Barbara Buntrock, viola; Julia Hagen, cello)

June 20
Donghoon SHIN: Winter Sonata (world premiere; with Christian Tetzlaff, violin)

Rosendal, Norway
Aug 6–10
Rosendal Chamber Music Festival (Founder and Artistic Director)
The complete 2025 festival program is available here.
Programs to include:

Aug 6
GRIEG: “Kulokk” from 19 Norwegian Folk Songs, Op. 66 No. 1
TVEITT: Three Songs (with Eirik Grøtvedt, tenor)
GRIEG: Melodies, Op. 33 Nos.6-12 (with Eirik Grøtvedt, tenor), Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)

Aug 7
Conversation about Grieg’s relationship with Hardanger, studies in Leipzig, and more (with Erling Dahl Jr.; in Norwegian)
GRIEG: Haugtussa, Op. 67 (with Mari Eriksmoen, soprano)
TVEITT: Piano Sonata No. 29, “Sonata Etere”

Aug 8
GRIEG: Andantino serioso, Op. 28 No.4
GRIEG: Andante con moto, EG116 (with Johan Dalene, violin; Julia Hagen, cello)
RAVEL: Three Poems by Stéphane Mallarmé (with Mari Eriksmoen, soprano; Edvard Erdal, violin; Albin Uusijärvi, viola; Daniel Thorell, cello; Cecilie Løken Hesselberg & Sigrid Holmstrand, flutes; Björn Nyman & Marita Elise Holme, clarinets)

Aug 9
VIERNE: Piano Quintet (with Johan Dalene & Sonoko Miriam Welde, violins; Timothy Ridout, viola; Julia Hagen, cello)
SHOSTAKOVICH: Viola Sonata, Op. 147 (with Timothy Ridout, viola)

Aug 10
TVEITT: 3 Folktunes from Hardanger
ANDRIESSEN: Workers Union (with all festival musicians)

Aug 15
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Chamber Music Festival
Opening concert
MOZART: Sonata in A, K.526 (with Guro Kleven Hagen, violin)
VIERNE: Piano Quintet (with Elise Båtnes & Liv Hilde Klokk-Bryhn, violins; Ida Klokk-Bryhn, viola; and Louisa Tuck, cello)

Aug 16
Oslo, Norway
Oslo Jazz Festival
Music from Who We Are with Marius Neset, saxophone
(with Louisa Tuck, cello; Ingrid Neset, flute)

Aug 28
Kristiansand, Norway
Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra / Julian Rachlin
Season-opening concert
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2