Mathieu van Bellen og Mathias Halvorsen presenterer sitt kritikerroste operaprosjekt La Boheme.

Dette er det aller første fullstendig instrumentale arrangementet av en fullblodts opera: Giacomo Puccinis La Bohème presenteres uten kutt og like høydramatisk og smektende som originalen.

De to musikerne har arrangert partituret selv, og har integrert kor, orkester og alle sangerne til et hyper-virtuost stykke for kun fiolin, piano og undertekster. 

Mathieu van Bellen, fiolin og Mathias Halvorsen, piano

Undertekster er designet av Ida Hatleskog. 

Konserter er en del av PODIUM – Fartein Valen Internasjonale Musikkfest. Festivalpass gir adgang, så lenge det er ledig plass. 

Presse:

**Alexandra Wilson, BBC Music Magazine (Chamber Music Choice of the month) **

**★★★★★**

…..Even more astonishingly, each character’s ‘voice’ is given a distinctive tone colour. Mimì is fragile, Rodolfo is assertive, though both are played by the violin, and by some wizardry these distinctions are apparent even when the two ‘sing’ together in duet. ….by the time we reach the end it is quite possible to forget that we have not been listening to ‘the real thing’. Bravi, van Bellen and Halvorsen, for this ravishing achievement. 

**Julia Kaizer, Neue Musik**

Halvorsen and the Dutch violinist Mathieu van Bellen perform the opera «La Bohème» as a mentally silent film production. ….Van Bellen sometimes seems to grow a sixth and seventh finger and Halvorsen two more hands, especially in the second act, when they let the Bohemians rejoice in the hustle and bustle of Montmartre, with its intermixing of children’s choir and military band. Off to the right of the musicians, texts and stage directions are projected on a large screen, so that in the minds of the audience Rodolfo’s attic room, the streets of Paris, and Mimi’s deathbed come to life more vividly than on any opera stage.

**The Sunday Times ★★★★★**

Purists, brace yourselves. Yes, the list of personnel written out above comprises just the two players. This audacious enterprise by the Dutch violinist van Bellen and the Norwegian pianist Halvorsen is possibly the first to  tackle the transcribing of an entire opera. And here’s the thing: it takes absolutely nothing away from Puccini’s miraculous score. On the contrary, through musicianship that at times takes the breath away, the pair’s reworking acheves an astonishing (and deeply affecting) fullness and richness. Never do you feel a lack of narrative heft or emotional engagement.