Celebrating
Nordic Music & Culture
Since 2005
What is the Edvard Grieg Society
We promote the music of Edvard Grieg and other Nordic composers. For example:
- present concerts of Norwegian and other Nordic music by local and visiting artists;
- sponsor juried competitions among young artists;
- present symposia, workshops and other educational activities; and,
- disseminate information about Nordic concerts regionally, nationally and internationally among organizations with similar purposes.
Live Performances
Engaging Lectures
Exciting Competitions
View our 2025-26 Season
Featured musicians in 2025
The cost of membership is just $50 for individuals or $75 for households. Membership fees are applied to costs associated with presenting concerts, competitions, symposia and other events consistent with our mission. Your membership fee will help to make it possible for us to offer “pay as you can” admission to everyone for all performances.
As a member, you will have a voice in the governance of the Edvard Grieg Society. You will be invited to attend the annual meeting of the Society, where we will hear reports on the activities of the Society during the current year, approve plans for the forthcoming year, and nominate board members. Members are also encouraged to perform volunteer services to the Society consistent with their abilities and time constraints, to invite friends to attend events sponsored by the Society, and to make voluntary contributions to the Society consistent with their interest, ability, and other charitable commitments.
Not ready for membership? Your donations will help fund our activities as well. Thank you for your support!
Today's the Day! Håkon Kornstad, "The Tenor Who Plays Tenor," presents his multifaceted solo jazz concert at 7:00 at Mindekirken – The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church. General admission, pay as you will, suggested donation $20.
Håkon will also give a preview of his concert at Mindekirken's Tuesday Open House at noon today. (Link in comments).
Vi sees! … See MoreSee Less
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Håkon Kornstad, the Norwegian saxophonist known as "Tenor Who Plays Tenor" closes our 2025-26 season this Tuesday, April 14 with a solo jazz concert at Mindekirken – The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church at 7:00 pm.
His presentation creatively blends jazz and operatic strains, accompanying himself through the technique of "looping" where he lays down layers of sound, building an accompaniment to his jazz improvisations and operatic vocalizations.
The result is hauntingly effective as sampled in this video clip.
Mr. Kornstad will also be the featured speaker earlier in the day at Mindekirken's Tuesday Open House. www.mindekirken.org/event-details/the-tenor-who-plays-tenor-presenter-hakon-kornstad
General admission seating. Pay as you will admission accepted at the door or online at egsmn.org/concert/norwegian-jazz-artist-hakon-kornstad $20 suggested donation.
youtu.be/QVlE-GrDoyg?si=HHmtpxYuF_tXyh8m … See MoreSee Less
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Preview of Håkon Kornstad April 14 concert: "Ideale" from NRK TV Broadcast … See MoreSee Less
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What to expect from the April 14 Håkon Kornstad concert?
Something fresh, new, original and virtuosic.
In a recent interview, Håkon Kornstad explained that he doesn’t remember the last concert he has performed. For him, everything is in front of him. There is one exception: The first piece he’ll play in a solo concert is named, paradoxically for a Norwegian, "Sweden," and features his lyrical and soulful tenor saxophone as well as his command of extended techniques such as harmonics and slap-tonguing.
From there he reveals, bit by bit, the rest of his artistic assets – using an outdated electronic device to record and playback audio loops to accompany his improvisations, creating an oriental, microtonal sound by putting a clarinet mouthpiece on a flute (the “flutonette”), whistling as if a new instrumental category had been born, and singing as he was trained at the Oslo Academy of Opera. The exact compositions are less important than the successive revelations of what one man can create.
You will hear the arbitrary walls between jazz and opera crumble. Who among lovers of beautiful music can defend them? While few have tried, Kornstad has endeavored to make music that unites their treasures.
“My solo performances,” he says, “combine solo saxophone improvisation with extended techniques such as multiphonics and slap tongue, approached not as effects but as melodic and expressive tools. The music unfolds with an elegiac, romantic, and often melancholic character. Sound layers are gently built using an intentionally outdated looping device, used solely to support and vary the improvisation rather than to foreground technology. On top of these textures, the voice enters as a kind of remembered sound – fragments drawn from the golden age of classical singing.
“Rather than full operatic arias, which can be too dramatic for this environment, I work with stretched citations and lyrical excerpts from composers such as Tosti, Respighi, Gluck, and Purcell. The Nordic song tradition is equally central, with music by Grieg and Sibelius, alongside Nordic hymns and sacred songs.” … See MoreSee Less
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Here's a wonderful article about Håkon Kornstad, the performer who will conclude our season of EGSMN Concerts at Mindekirken – The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church on April 14.
He will give a presentation about his unique performance and career for Mindekirken's Tuesday Open House at noon and perform his solo concert at Mindekirken at 7:00 pm.
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The tenor who plays tenor returns – The Norwegian American
www.norwegianamerican.com
Norwegian musician Håkon Kornstad blends jazz and opera, singing tenor while playing saxophone. He debuts in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Davis, merging classical arias, Nordic songs, and improvis…0 CommentsComment on Facebook
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Coming up next from the EGSMN — Håkon Kornstad, “The Tenor Who Plays Tenor” … See MoreSee Less
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More photos from the Feb. 24 celebration of the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Peer Gynt. Sold out performance at MetroNOME Brewery. … See MoreSee Less
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Congrats and thanks to Sonja Thompson for crafting this Readers Theater production of Peer Gynt and to the tremendously talented cast of singers: Justin Spenner as Peer Gynt, Kathryn Rupp as Solveig, and Maggie Burr,
Thore Dosdall, David Fillman, and Robin Helgen holding down all the other roles.
Here's the live concert stream. Intro comments start at 41:03; performance starts at 47:18. … See MoreSee Less
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