Join the festival in September!
Bjergsted Brass Festival is an annual festival for brass players held in Bjergsted Cultural Park. The festival is a collaborative project between the Faculty of Performing Arts, University of Stavanger, Stavanger Cultural School, Young Talents Bjergsted, Stavanger Cathedral School's brass ensemble, Vågen Upper Secondary School's brass ensemble, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Band Association's Rogaland branch and the non-profit organization Bjergsted Trombone Guild.
All Brass
This year's festival starts on Wednesday 17 September and ends on Sunday 21 September 2025. The theme is "All Brass" and this year we will especially focus on master classes and chamber music. For the festival we bring in some of the world's leading international brass artists to perform, inspire and motivate the festival participants and our concert audience, as well as share their rich experience as performing brass artists with all the festival participants. This year we have succeeded in getting a whole range of fantastic international guest artists and ensembles to the festival.
Brass course
In connection with the Bjergsted Brass Festival, we are organizing a course for college students, professional educators and performers in collaboration with the Bjergsted Trombone Guild. The course, which mainly takes place at the Faculty of Performing Arts in Bjergsted Cultural Park, starts on Wednesday, September 17 at 4pm and ends on Sunday, September 21, 2025 with a closing concert that begins at 3pm. There will be daily exercises and Concepts for brass, chamber music in various ensembles, master classes, lectures and public concerts. Here, both the festival artists, the festival ensembles and the festival participants participate in various constellations. Festival participation is free and includes all festival activities and the public concerts. The registration deadline is 20 August 2025 via this registration form.
The course gives credits
The University of Stavanger offers all active participants 3 ECTS (credits) on the condition that you are a current student at a higher Norwegian or European educational institution and participate in the entire college course part of the festival. In order to receive the credits, you must fill in all information in the registration form. It is also possible for brass groups from various European colleges, in collaboration with their respective colleges, to organize festival participation with an Erasmus+ scholarship or Nordplus scholarship for short-term mobility. Unfortunately, this does not apply to students at Norwegian institutions. If such a collaboration is to be made with a European educational institution, you must contact festival organizer Per Kristian Svensen as soon as possible and start the work of creating a cooperation agreement between the University of Stavanger and the relevant institution. We want to be active participants also at the upcoming Bjergsted Brass Festival. There will be a certain limit for active participant places, and the principle "First come, first served" applies to participation. So it is a good idea to apply well in advance before the registration deadline of August 20, 2025. Welcome to an exciting inspirational course for brass players!
Guest artists 2025
Håkan Hardenberger, international trumpet soloist and professor at the Malmö Academy of Music. Håkan will be a soloist with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in week 39 and we are particularly proud that Håkan combines this solo assignment with also participating as a guest artist and soloist at the Bjergsted Brass Festival. Håkan will give a three-hour masterclass on Friday, September 19 and will also participate as a soloist at two of our festival concerts. Nine festival participants will have the opportunity to play in Håkan Hardenberger's masterclass. These will be selected via a lottery after the registration deadline on August 20 (see details in the registration form). The masterclass is open to all trumpet participants and is the only masterclass during the festival where we provide an accompanist.
Connaught Brass is an internationally established quintet consisting of five of the UK's leading young brass artists. The quintet will be with us throughout the festival week, contributing with teaching and master classes in addition to participating in four of our festival concerts. The quintet is at the beginning of its international career, but has already established itself as one of the most exciting ensembles. They have won several international chamber music competitions (such as the Phillip Jones Chamber Music Competition).
Tine Thing Helseth, our Norwegian super trumpeter, will participate throughout the festival week as both a soloist, chamber musician and ensemble leader. We are very pleased that Tine has been able to fit the festival engagement into her busy concert calendar. Tine will participate in several of our festival concerts and also be a soloist with various smaller chamber ensembles. During the last part of the festival, Tine will also bring her own ensemble TenThing. They will participate during the festival weekend itself (Friday to Sunday). TenThing will – in parallel with our college course – lead a separate weekend seminar aimed at young brass talents, aged 13 to 20, from cultural schools and school bands. The participants here will be included in most of our festival concerts. In addition, they have their own closing concert on Sunday at 5:00 PM together with TenThing and Bente Illevold TenThing will participate in three of our public concerts.
Bente Illevold, international euphonium soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. We are very pleased to present the Norwegian international euphonium star as one of our festival artists. Bente is an exciting and innovative artist and has ensured the further development of the euphonium repertoire by stimulating composers – including herself – to write for the instrument. Together with the American tuba player David Earli, she has her own duo, The Northern Lights Duo, which has been a frequent participant both at international festivals, on her own tours and as inspiring guests at various “Low brass courses” for younger performers.
Tobias Füller, internationally renowned trumpet professor, soloist and chamber musician. We are very pleased that Tobias will also be coming to our festival this year as a guest teacher. He is employed as a trumpet professor at the Lübeck Academy of Music. Tobias also visited the festival in 2023. He will primarily lead master classes and various chamber music activities during the festival.
Ingemar Roos, international trombone and brass teacher. We are very pleased to once again be visited by the living Scandinavian brass legend Ingemar Roos. Ingemar has previously been a guest teacher here at the festival on several occasions. Ingemar was previously a trombone professor at both the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Gothenburg Academy of Music. He was also for over 35 years the solo trombonist at the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Ingemar will primarily lead master classes and various chamber music activities during the festival.