Norwegian Composer Revives Love for the Classics

[Axel Kolstadt, Composer and Pianist]:
„I was a sportsman. My father was the coach of the national basketball team. I was playing the piano and basketball until I was 17 years old. I had to choose. And I have chosen: to keep the basketball shoes, but to be a composer and play my music.“

When an artist performs Grieg’s sketches, you can hear the music of Norwegian fjords. In the interpretation of Rachmaninov, as musicians say, you can hear Russia. Among the serious musical pieces, there are touching stories about the goldfish and Harlequin.

[Axel Kolstadt, Composer and Pianist]:
„I do something extra to get more attention. And it doesn’t has to be serious.. Classical concert does not have to be serious. There was this Danish fantastic composer Victor Borge, who arranged a crazy show at his concerts.“

Axel shows may seem too extravagant at first glance. But, according to the Consul General of Norway, an original approach to classical music helps to attract more viewers, in particular young people.

[Rune Osheym, Consul General of Norway in Saint Petersburg]: 
“Axel Kolstadt is a young musician, an excellent pianist, he is a composer, and he’s almost a fool from time to time.“

Axel’s friends consider him to be tireless: not only is he a musician, composer and conductor, but he teaches as well.

At home Axel brings his future listeners in advance so as not to come once into an empty room.

[Vitaly Vasiliev, Director, Center for Humanitarian Programs]:
„He goes to nursery schools, to some municipal agencies which are engaged in educating troubled teens. You cannot watch at these concerts without tears, because you would see how these kids become different, how their faces become bright.“

Musicians, like diplomats, are making bridges between nations, says the wife of the Consul General of Norway.

[Elena Goncharova, Wife of Consul General of Norway]:
„He brings the light even for non-professionals. We become happier when we hear the bright people. They are like the sun.“

The musician shows his program in the best concert halls in Europe. Two days ago he played in New York’s Carnegie Hall.

The citizens of St. Petersburg are full of impressions. This Norwegian musician conquered them with his sincerity.

[Ecatherina Berseneva, Graduate Student, St. Petersburg State University]:
„He showed that a man who devotes his entire life to music can be totally creative in all directions at the same time. He can be open; he is the same as we are. I was pleased with it.“

Axel is international not only in music but also by birth: his are Norwegian, Tatar and Russian roots. The composer will express his impressions from a trip to Russia in his work for orchestra, which he will dedicate to his ancestors, the Kazantsev family.

NTD, St. Petersburg, Russia

Foto: NTDTV