Program 2025
Monday, August 11th
Nordic jazz and classical highlights (opening concert)
20:00 - 21:45 - Holy Spirit Church
This year’s opening concert offers a special encounter between young Nordic jazz and world-class classical music. Young singer Anna Stæhr leads her trio with a rare charisma and presence, and together they lift the concert from the first note. Then we enter the classical world with Bach and festival composer Ole Buck, performed by award-winning pianist Anne Mette Stæhr – her interpretation of Buck’s Sonatina is an invitation into new music that is both present and compelling.
After the break, the groundbreaking Norwegian trio POING takes us on a musical journey where anything can happen – including their own wild version of Mahler’s Scherzo from Symphony No. 6, arranged for saxophone, accordion and double bass.
Cast:
Anna Stæhr Trio: Anna Stæhr, vocals – Alfred Ocansey, piano – Eigil Lau Andersen, double bass
Anne Mette Stæhr, piano
POING, Norwegian jazz trio: Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, saxophone – Frode Haltli, accordion – Håkon Thelin, double bass
Program
Anna Stæhr Trio: youthful jazz for the first time at the festival
Bach: French Suite for solo piano
Ole Buck: Sonatina for solo piano (celebrating this year’s festival composer, who turns 80)
Jazz and finally Mahler’s Scherzo from Symphony No. 6, in POINGS arrangement for saxophone, accordion and double bass
Tuesday, August 12th
Intoxicating opera singing meets Nordic jazz (free)
17:00 - 18:00 - Vestjysk Bank
True to tradition, we let the sky ring and sing in the middle of the city – literally. Here, youthful jazz meets world-class operatic art. Anna Stæhr and Brit-Tone Müllertz will each perform their favorite works flanked by the reckless and fabulous Norwegian jazz ensemble POING.
The program remains a surprise, but we dare to promise that you will leave with both smiles and stardust in your ears. The concert has been one of the festival’s most popular for several years, and this year is no exception.
Come as you are and enjoy a free musical experience, bubbles and wreath cake – under the open sky, weather permitting.
The concert is free, first come, first served.
Cast:
Anna Stæhr Trio: Anna Stæhr, vocals – Alfred Ocansey, piano – Eigil Lau Andersen, double bass
POING, Norwegian jazz trio: Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, saxophone – Frode Haltli, accordion – Håkon Thelin, double bass
Brit-Tone Müllertz, soprano, Kristoffer Hyldig, piano
Program
A musical fusion where innovative Danish jazz vocals meet reckless Norwegian jazz
Opera singing by a world-class soprano.
Tuesday, August 12th
A musical journey from east to north
20:30 - 21:30 - Lyngvig Church
In the atmospheric space of Lyngvig Church, the evening offers a journey from Eastern European tradition to Nordic poetry. Dvořák and Kodály bring out the best of Czech and Hungarian chamber music in luminous trios for two violins and viola – works full of character, rhythm and warmth.
Also featured are duos for violin and viola: Ole Buck’s Flowers – one of his most poetic works – and music by award-winning Anette Slaatto, inspired by trees, birdsong and the light movement of the wind.
Cast:
Bjarne Hansen, violin
Helge Slaatto, violin
Anette Slaatto, viola
Program
Ole Buck: Flowers for violin and viola
Classical trio works by Dvořák and Kodály
Anette Slaatto, winner of the Axel Borup-Jørgensen Composer Prize 2024 is presented
Wednesday, August 13th
Adventure in words and music
20:00 - 21:30 - Holy Spirit Church
An evening where music and story merge. Brahms’ wonderful and singable trio for mezzo, viola and piano unfolds with a warmth and sincerity that transcends time. Next, we meet Alban Berg’s intense and expressive lieder – an emotional contrast that leads to Nordic moods and Grieg’s adventurous Haugtussa cycle.
The concert’s only purely instrumental work is Ole Buck’s Divertimento Autumnale – one of the festival composer’s most cherished works, loved for its fine balance between melancholy and lightness.
This evening we will also be joined by DR P2, who will be broadcasting the concert live.
Cast:
Brit-Tone Müllertz, soprano
Kristoffer Hyldig, piano
Anette Slaatto, viola
Program
Lied program with works by Johannes Brahms, Alban Berg, Edvard Grieg and more
Ole Buck: Divertimento Autumnale
Thursday, August 14th
Musical virtuosity & acrobatics
20:00 - 21:15 - Hvide Sande Sportsfisker Center
As the sun disappears behind the North Sea and the sky turns blue-violet, the concert opens up for a visual and musical encounter in a class of its own. With nature as a backdrop, diabolo-juggler Moritz Salger performs with some of the festival’s most beloved musicians: recorder player Michala Petri, double bassist Frank Reinecke, violinist Helge Slaatto and violist Anette Slaatto.
The program ranges from Bach and Vivaldi to works by Ole Buck – combining Baroque structure with contemporary movement and play. A sensory evening where music and performance art meet under the open sky.
Note: This concert is held in a rustic setting with the audience sitting on fish boxes and plastic chairs in the local ‘Sportsfisker Center’ in front of the North Sea. Therefore, you may want to bring a pillow and a blanket.
Cast:
Michala Petri, recorder
Bjarne Hansen, violin
Helge Slaatto, violin
Anette Slaatto, viola
Frank Reinecke, double bass
Moritz Salger, diabolo-juggler
Program
Baroque music by Bach and Vivaldi
Ole Buck: Lauf der Klänge, duo for violin and double bass
Friday, August 15th
Schubert's musical drama in present and past tense (closing concert)
20:00 - 21:45 - Holy Spirit Church
The festival concludes with a concert that brings together the essence of the week’s musical diversity – and what a finale! Amalie Malling leads us into Schubert’s immortal Trout Quintet, one of the most beloved classics in the chamber music repertoire.
At the same time, we celebrate festival composer Ole Buck with a premiere for recorder and double bass, performed by Michala Petri and Frank Reinecke, and the string trio Spring Blossoms, played by the Slaatto Trio.
A musical bouquet that connects threads from Romanticism to the present – with musical stories from two centuries.
Cast:
The Slaatto Trio: Helge Slaatto, violin – Anette Slaatto, viola – Jonathan Slaatto, cello
Michala Petri, recorders
Frank Reinecke, double bass
Amalie Malling, piano
Program
Ole Buck: Spring Blossoms, composed for the Slaatto Trio
Ole Buck: Duo for recorder and double bass, composed for Michala Petri and Frank Reinecke (world premiere)
Franz Schubert: Trout Quintet
The program is subject to change.
Any surplus tickets can be purchased at the entrance.