Germany

Blog entry 17th of July 2009
In the air between Frankfurt and Oslo

I am SO sorry for my lack of blog writing the last months! I really don’t have a particularly good explanation or reason, I promise you it will never happen again!
Anyway, a LOT of things have happened since April (!), and for the few of you who have also checked out my Norwegian blog you probably know some of it. (I actually wrote until May in the other blog… sorry…) So, here follows a short summary of what I have been up to:

• End of April: Great days in London with the Razumovsky (check out video blog at YouTube!). Some small concerts in Norway.

• May: Had a very good week with the Oslo Philharmonic and Saraste, doing the Shostakovich concerto with Håvard Gimse on the piano. It was also a DVD production ☺ TenThing week! Always having a good time with the other girls (check out video blog on YouTube!). Celebrated Norway’s National Day. Lovely weather, really hot in my “bunad” (Norwegian National dress…) I went to some concerts (you can actually see me in the audience sometimes as well! …hehe ☺) Bergen International Festival and Hardanger musikkfest. Lovely week, if not a bit full of concerts and rehearsals, rehearsals and concerts, but that’s work, isn’t it? Hardanger must be one of the most beautiful places on earth! Look at the pictures!

• June: Three exams at school, in one day! Pedagogic first, then Norwegian music history and last my final trumpet exam. Everything went really well, and the concert (final exam) in the evening was a great experience. I had it at a café actually. A concept called “Café de Concert”, really nice, will tell you more about this concept later. That was the final exams of my Bachelor degree. Bachelor, finito, Master Diploma, here I come… ☺ I went to Berlin and played a concert in the Berlin Philharmonie with a chamber orchestra. A lot of meetings and office work this month… And then, recording! I can’t tell you exactly what it was yet, but I can assure you it was the most amazing week! Soon you will know what this mysterious project is…The end of the month I spent in Risør, at the Risør Chamber music festival. I may use the word “amazing” a lot, but this week was extremely amazing. It started with a boat ride with a small ship from Kristiansand to Risør, some of us musicians played concerts aboard. I have never played while the ground is moving before, everything has a first I guess. The week was especially nice because my mother and little sister, Amalie, had rented a house and stayed there with me. The weather was as good as it could get, and the summer feeling was complete. I met many nice people and great musicians and lovely audience. Very special atmosphere. Went home for one day before next trip…

• July: … to Bad Kissingen, and the Kissinger Sommer Festival. Third year in a row I am there, and it is always so nice to be there. Two concerts, both went really well. Already looking forward to next year, then we go there with tenThing. Home for a couple of days, editing my mysterious CD project, then Germany again. I’m going to be in Germany so much this summer I am suspecting to both think and speak fluent German by the end of August… I wish! Last weekend I went to Stuttgart, two concerts with Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra at the Mercedes Center. Playing Haydn among all the amazing cars! (look at the picture, I fell in love with this one...) I really enjoyed it ☺ Then my mother and I had a very loooooong train ride from Stuttgart to Potsdam (I think it was over 7 hours…). Potsdam was such a beautiful little city situated around 25 min (by train) outside of Berlin. We stayed there for rehearsals with Kammerakademie Potsdam and Michael Sanderling. So nice people to work with. Yesterday we went to Wiesbaden (another, not so long this time, train ride) and concert at the Rheingau Festival in the evening. It was outside at a very beautiful place called Kloster Eberbach, and we could not have been luckier with the weather. Lovely surroundings, musicians, conductor, music, audience (even bird singing!), it doesn’t get much better than that.

That was my last months and days in a short (hopefully) summary. Right now I am sitting on the plane from Frankfurt to Oslo, on my way home. I am staying there for some days before I’m back on the road. Italy is my next stop.

As this blog is my blabbing about small funny things that happens, I could tell you about the insect invasion at our hotel room in Stuttgart, the crazy shouting taxi-driver, hearing a bunch of kids singing “Fairytale” at the train from Potsdam to Wiesbaden, Hunting for the mosquitoes lookalike creatures at hour hotel room in Potsdam, walking and walking and walking in Berlin because we choose the wrong station…. There is a lot. But it would be a novel, so I will leave it up to your imagination ☺

Until next time (which will definitely not be this long!), remember to enjoy yourself, things doesn’t get better than you make them…
Tine

Estonia

Blog entry 24th of April 2009
In the air between Tallinn and Oslo

I’m in the air again. The weather is beautiful, so it should be a nice flight. This early flight from Tallinn is not particularly crowdie, as a matter of facts the seats rows around me are quite empty. The more space for me then! ☺ The flight crew are on their way with the food (as I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, food and flying has a weird bond of connection), my mother is sleeping in the inner seat by the window and I am writing. Before that I was reading a book (the title not too sophisticated I’m afraid) and even before that, I woke up too early in Tallinn…

I’ve been in Estonia since Sunday, and played three concerts with Pärnu City Orchestra. The four biggest cities in Estonia are Tallinn, Tartu, Narva and Pärnu (according to our very nice driver!), and I played in three of them (the one I did not play in was Narva). I stayed three nights in Tallinn and two in Pärnu, and drove a lot across the country. It is quite small (with a population of approx 1.8 mill) and very flat. The highest point is around 300 meters, but that’s just nice when you drive a lot, the roads is mostly straight so it gets quite comfortable.

This was my first time in Estonia and I enjoyed it very much. The weather was actually quite nice, the sun was shining most of the day, but I must admit the temperature was a bit on the cold side. Since I am a Viking (well, at least I am from Norway…) I never panicked, but simply took the winter jacket back on, and then everything was fine ☺ Tallinn is a very beautiful city, especially the old town and luckily our hotel was situated very near that part. Also near the concert hall, so it was very convenient.

I liked this banner, can I have it everytime I play a concert?

After the first concert, which was in Tallinn, I was very hungry. I usually get hungry after the concert because my stomach doesn’t want too much food before I go on stage (I’ve heard that’s a normal musicians syndrome…). So my mother and I wandered the streets of Tallinn in search for some quick and easy food. Well, what other than the familiar American chain starting with Mc and ending with Donald’s magically appears in front of us (here comes the part where I should say I only bought some water, but you know better…. Don’t you?). I walk in to the restaurant and see that there is a full row of cheeseburgers behind the counter (just waiting to be eaten by someone), and I start to order from the smiling man. Three cheeseburgers (one for my mother (yes, I have a bad influence on her as well…) and two for myself) and the smiling man answer that I have to wait 2 minutes. Since I can fully see the row of cheeseburgers I kindly ask if those aren’t cheeseburgers? Well, he answers, they are already ordered. Since the row counts 5 cheeseburgers I look eager around to see who could have ordered all these cheeseburgers and are possibly even hungrier then myself? Well, I get my answer when the smiling man takes the 5 cheeseburgers along with two Big Macs and head for the window table. A young couple is sitting alone with two large French fries, one ice cream, one apple pie, two big sodas and now; five cheeseburgers and two Big Mac. I can see that I am not the only one being hungry tonight! End of story; I get my two cheeseburgers and eats them happily on our way back to the hotel.

When I land in Oslo I have exactly five hours before my next flight to Haugesund. That means I can go home and change the suitcase (and do some important things like print out my flight tickets for the flight to Haugesund today and for London on Sunday, remember all the scores, mutes, new concert clothes and so on...), and take the bus back to Gardermoen (Oslo airport). I am going to a festival called the Fartein Valen Festival, named after the composer, in Haugesund. Concert tomorrow night.

I will write soon again! In the mean time, remember not to be to embarrassed next time you secretly by a cheeseburger (or two) at Mc Donald’s…

Best wishes from high above,
Tine

Visiting Köln

Blog entry 9th of April 2009

In the air, between Düsseldorf and Oslo

High up in the air, looking down at Germany, soon Denmark and then Norway. I am on my way home from Köln…My very good friend Frida studies Cello in Köln and this was my first time visiting her. I arrived Monday, and it is Thursday today, so that means I have been there for three nights and almost four days ☺ I’ve had such a wonderful time! We managed to do so many different activities in a very short amount of time… Practising, visiting the Zoo along with Mari and Linnéa, practising, eating, visiting Düsseldorf, practising, see the Kölner Dome, walking over the Rhine, practising, go shopping, take the train and eat at a café near Barbarossa Platz. My flight was from Düsseldorf, only 40 min from Köln Hauptbahnhof. A nice little train ride ☺

My last blog entry was almost a month ago, it has been some hectic times, but now I am enjoying my Easter Holiday. Hopefully I will write more to you when I am of to work again next week. First stop: Sursée, Switzerland.

On Norwegian radio (NRK P2) everyday at 13 and 19 you can hear a new programme called “Kort og Klassisk”. This is a program for young people about classical music, I think this is amazing! Every week I write in a blog called kortogklassisk.blogspot.com , so make sure you check this as well ☺ (it is in Norwegian only…)

Ein bisschen deutsche: Frohe Ostern ☺ (My German is really bad, I have a goal though, to speak it almost fluent some time…)

Until next time,
Tine

PS: I also have my own twitter account, and I try to update it regularly. www.twitter.com/tinetrumpet

Blog Entry 19th of March 2009
Between Gloppen and Bergen

I am on my way from a little place in Norway called Gloppen to Bergen. The occasion? I am on a tour with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. The AMAZING Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Not only are they extremely good, they are also extremely nice, and I am really enjoying myself whether we’re playing or spending time on the road in the bus.

We started this little tour in Oslo on Sunday, continued in Ålesund on Monday, Ullsteinvik on Tuesday, Gloppen yesterday and Bergen today. Our last concert will be in Bærum on Saturday. The program is Haydn trumpet concerto (and a little piazzolla tango called Oblivion as an encore (if the audience wants to of course…), which really is one of my favourite pieces). The conductor and really inspirational leader is Arvid Engegård, and we are having a lot of fun in the concerts. The atmosphere is electric and I am really looking forward to tonight.

As I told you I am on the bus, and for those of you who have been travelling a lot on the west coast of Norway you know what I mean when I say that the roads are not exactly straightforward… All the mountains ☺And I don’t want to get sick while I am writing this, so I think I will take a little break and be back when we are more like standing still. Maybe on the ferry?

Here you se me on one of the many ferries. It was quite some wind!

I am back, not exactly on the ferry, but at my hotel room in Bergen. The concert tonight was amazing! It was such a great experience, and I just have to thank everyone I met while signing CDs afterwards. Everyone I met at signing CDs at all the concerts really, one of the greatest things about being me is being able to meet all of you. Thank you ☺

It has been some great five days, with five concerts, bus driving, ferries, hotel rooms (and one suite, I will never forget that huge room (or should I say living room, bed room, 2 bath rooms)!!!), great music, great audience and lovely nature!
Tomorrow we go back to Oslo and then we play the last concert on Saturday.

You will hear from me soon ☺
Tine

Goodbye Hanoi

Blog Entry 2nd of March 2009
Hanoi

I did manage to cross the streets. You just have to walk slowly, and the cars and motorbikes will drive either in front or back of you. Your nerves just has to be in the right place, that’s all…
My stay here in Hanoi has been full of new experiences. Like I told you in my previous blog entry this is a project between Norway and Vietnam, and I must say it has been a joy to be a part of it. Especially to meet all the musicians and the conductor Pierre André Valade, and perform two wonderful concerts together. Haydn always is a joy to play, and the audience here in Hanoi was also very nice ☺

I am at the airport now, in Frankfurt, and there is still three more hours before my flight to Oslo. The flight from Hanoi to Frankfurt was 11 hours and 40 minutes, it is quite some time… I tried to sleep, but I have the feeling this is going to be a long day. The time in Hanoi was 23:45 when our flight left, and after almost 12 hours it is now 8 :00 in Frankfurt. I am so much looking forward to the rest of my day with rehearsing and everything and only three hours sleep this night ☺ Well, in a couple of days I will be alright again.

You will hear more from me in a couple of days time. On Friday I am going to Bergen on a movie premiere, you will of course get a detailed report…

So long,
Tine

Destination Hanoi

Blog entry 25th of February 2009

Hanoi

I am sitting by the pool at the most wonderful hotel here in Hanoi! The weather is a bit cloudy though (and even raining a bit), so it looks like my tan still will be non-existing by the time I get home… Hopefully the sun will show up tomorrow. It is really hot here, and very humid, so I still get a little bit of summer.

We arrived very late two days ago, and yesterday was a day to rest a bit and explore the hotel. Sofitel Metropol Hanoi is like a small city (very small, more like tiny maybe…) with shops for all you need (if you have a lot of money… Louis Vuitton and Hermés is not completely my style, but wonderful to do window-shopping!). Four restaurants, fitness centre, spa and pool. Amalie has already been out there twice. We have been outside the hotel also (of course...), but there is one tiny problem. It is almost impossible to cross the street! They are driving their cars and motorbikes in their own system, real anarchy. Red light doesn’t mean much, and it feels a bit like Russian rulet. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is quite terrifying when you come from a completely different culture when it comes to traffic and driving. Later today we are going to a water-puppet show, so then we have to cross the streets… You will here my report tomorrow… lol ☺

" My view from my table at the café on the hotel"

I have my first rehearsal with the orchestra tomorrow; the concerts are Saturday and Sunday. This is a project that’s managed by Transposition, and it is an exchange program between Norway and Vietnam. To let Vietnamese and Norwegian musicians play together, I am very happy to be part of the project. The conductor is French, Pierre André Valued, and I am looking forward to meet both him and the orchestra tomorrow.

My Jasmine-Green tee was just served, so I think I have to say goodbye for now. My tee is waiting, I do want it while it is still hot ☺
Lời chúc tụng, Tine

Destination Tokyo

Blog entry 23rd of February 2009

Tokyo

I am in Tokyo. We arrived on the 18th but my Internet connection at the hotel has been a bit limited, so therefore I have not gotten a chance to write a blog entry before now.

The flight was comfortable, and the movie and game selection on the plane was nice. Finnair from Oslo to Tokyo via Helsinki. I am on this two-week tour (and a little holiday…) to Asia together with my mum and little sister. I really like having them with me, it is so nice to experience all of this together with my family. We did have a little incident on the first flight from Oslo to Helsinki though. Our jackets were in the overhead compartments and when we arrived in Helsinki my mother’s coat was completely soaked on one side! It turned out our neighbour had a bottle of water, one of these with sports cap, outside his bag and it was leaking. The compartment was full of water… The coat was almost dry when we arrived in Tokyo (thanks to a lovely stewardess!). But that was really all the drama, and I would say that was quite little.

Tokyo is so full of people! 33 million inhabitants (we are 4.5 million in the whole of Norway!) and the main city centre is huge. Our hotel is located in Musashino, about 15min by train to the nearest part of the centre, Shinjuku. At the left side you see me in Shinjuku and on the right side in Asakusa.

The city is so clean! And most places there are not allowed to smoke on the streets, they have their own small painted squares on the streets were you can smoke. You should have your phone on silent mode and not talk in your phone while you are on the train or the subway, and the line and queue system everywhere is remarkable! I also love the way they greet eachother, with all the bowing and give things with two hands. There is just something with the respect they give and show one another.


The people from the Musashino Cultural Foundation is so nice, especially Mr Wada, and the concert on the 20th were so much fun! It was sold out and such a lovely audience. I played with a great organist, Naomi Matsui, and my first concert in Tokyo was a great experience.
The two last days has been spent as tourists, taking a lot of pictures and trying to see as much of Tokyo as possible.

Tonight we are leaving for Hanoi, so right now I will finish my practising and then do some last packing. It is 30 degrees Celsius in Vietnam, so I think I will try to work a little bit on my tan (which at this moment is non-existing…).
You will hear from me when I arrive in Hanoi!
Sayonara, Tine ☺

Arendal-Oslo by train

Blog Entry 14th of February 2009

Train is a comfortable way of travelling. Today I am on my way home to Oslo from Arendal. It is so much beautiful nature around me, I really get to refresh my love to the nature here in Norway. It is terribly cold outside, but the sun is shining, and you know how everything gets even more beautiful when it is cold. It is something about those cold degrees that makes the air shine in a special way.

I will not bore you with my romantic nature talk. (I do get like this when I watch and read romantic comedies, and that is the best way to get time to fly by!) Instead I actually have a really dramatic story to tell you.

It has been over a week since I last wrote a blog entry. If I remember right I were in Stavanger, enjoying my great hotel room very much ☺ Since that I have done a lot of things and concerts. I had a project going on with “Stabsmusikken” (the national band of armed forces) with a world premiere. That was a great experience, but here also comes the drama.

On Wednesday, three days ago, I had just arrived in Lillestrøm and was on my way to the dressing rooms backstage. Then the most surprisingly horrible thing happened; I slipped and fell on my way down the stairs. And I fell right on my trumpets! (Yes, this is the place where you should scream!) First I thought everything was going to be okay, but then I checked my C trumpet… The trigger got stuck and the second valve was a bit shaky. One and a half hour to the concert, what do you do?

Well, we tried to call everywhere and everyone to find someone who should fix my trumpet before the concert was supposed to start. But we didn’t have much time so it needed to be a place near Lillestrøm. We drove in to Oslo to fix it, but I had bad luck and my trumpet only got worse… it felt like my little baby was sick and I just wanted to hold her and tell her that she would be okay! Luckily one of the trumpeters in the orchestra had a C trumpet that I could borrow. The same brand and model as mine, but as you know; your own children are always the best. But, I am glad to say that everything turned out well! I got through the concert with my “stand-in” trumpet, and the day after I went to Sarpsborg and Hans Gunnar made my baby good again! He is a real lifesaver ☺

That was all the drama for today. Tomorrow I go to Trondheim and on Tuesday I am leaving for Asia. First stop: Tokyo!

Until next time, be careful when you walk the stairs…

Stavanger

Blog entry 3rd of February 2009

I have this great hotel room here in Stavanger, it is huge although it’s only supposed to be a single room. I do get kind of a royal feeling, thank you to whoever arranged this. You do know how to make a girl feel welcome!

I arrived here yesterday and played a concert last night together with Stuttgart Chamber orchestra, the same orchestra I played with in Tromsø last week. Great orchestra and great audience. No crazy photographers snatching hundreds of photographs for the local newspaper (seriously, sometimes you would think they believed they where invisible!), and I didn’t fall on my way on to the stage. So all in all it was great experiences.

Sunday was another long visit to Heathrow. First I must tell you that I had a wonderful time in Belfast, and the orchestra and conductor Roy Goodman was so great to work with. It was an all-baroque program, and I think I have completely fallen in love with playing this music. I mean, I have always liked it, but lately I get this amazingly content feeling when I play it. I get all excited about hemiols and small rhythmic patterns and twists, I hope this is a good sign. (But maybe if I start to talk too much about it in this blog, someone should warn me…)

I updated my profile picture, you see me standing outside the city hall in Belfast.

Well, I have to leave you then. I am on my way to rehearse a little bit, I go home to Oslo tonight. (No food on this flight though, SAS do not serve food on domestic flights that are as short as Stavanger-Oslo, and especially not on my Happy-prize ticket). I am working on a new piece, a commission, by Wolfgang Plagge. I am premiering it on Thursday in Oslo. First rehearsal tomorrow, looking forward!

So, until next time…

Destination Belfast

Blog entry 29th of January 2009

Some people have already asked me when I will write a new blog entry. I am greatly surprised that someone has already discovered this blog, and of course I now want to update as regularly as possible. So, here goes.

I am back at Heathrow, this time terminal 1. I left Tromsø too early this morning (flight departing 6:50) and I am on my way to Belfast. My breakfast was eaten on my flight from Tromsø to Oslo, my early-lunch from Oslo to Heathrow, and who knows, there might be a little bit of eating on the last flight for Belfast. We do that a lot; eat on flights. Sometimes the flight attendants run through the plane and almost throws the little snack at you, along with a cup of coffee or tee, and some minutes later they hurry past you again and tries to throw your food in the trash before you have even eaten it. And then the plane lands. The flight may not have taken much longer time than you use on the bus every morning to work, but you have to eat. Flying and eating is somewhat connected. I wonder who decided that?

Ooo, have to go to the gate, my mother is calling my name. Will write more when I arrive in Belfast.

Hilton Hotel, Belfast:
So here I am. It is a bit late in the evening here now, and I have just practised in a conference room at the hotel. Trumpet is not always so popular with the other guests (especially in this hotel I would imagine, I can practically hear what my neighbours are talking about!), and there is almost always a possibility of finding another room at the hotel to play in. The people at the reception here at the Hilton in Belfast are extremely nice, and I got a room right away where I could play as loud as I wanted! But I must admit I am a bit tired, I always get so sleepy after a long day of travelling.
You will hear from me soon! So stay tuned…