Blog

Three scholarships, Carnegie Hall and St.Petersburg in a flash

Sat, 2010-06-05 15:52



Today I came to the wonderful city of St.Peterburg! Rehersals with the orchestra doesn´t start before on the 7th, so I have a day or two to relax and get around a bit in the city. I was here for the first time in 2006, but this town makes you breathless everytime you set fot on it, I can tell you that! Yesterday was just unbelivable! In the morning I got a scholarship for my Carnegie-debut from Wilhelmsen Shipping worth 4680 USD! And yes, it´s now official and legal to annouce that I am makeing my debut in Carnegie Hall this October 10th! Don´t miss it, folk´s :) And if that´s not enough - later that same day as I was given yet another scholarship worth 7810 USD for one of my projects in Norway!! I am not allowed to tell from whom I got it from or for what I got it for - yet... But it sure made my day like no other day ever before!!:):) Earlier this week Kari and Harald Tybring Gjedde gave me a scholarship worth 1560 USD, also for my Carnegie-debut. My oh my, am I going to make the money worth it once I get up on that stage on 7th avenue!!

Art Director Artem Vitalevich gave me a wonderful tour in St.Petersburg when I arrived this morning:)




Artem Vitalevich




Very enthusiastic nice, yet unknown, person and me:)





Garden and house-concert at Aksel´s place

Sat, 2010-05-29 23:43


I did some stand up comedy on "Russians" and Fred Uno Huvenes on "Arabic litterature", Russian Gipsy songs by Solfrid Molland, I played some Shumann Gershin/Kolstad, Benjamin Britten´s solo suite for cello by Ingvild Nesdal Sandnes and a little encore by Farué... and THEN the party began... Check out our mediacenter for more photos https://www.cafedeconcert.no/mediacenter



















Café de Concert at Caffe Vivaldi

Wed, 2010-05-19 12:03


I performed at the legendary Caffe Vivaldi again yesterday night with a full house of crazy Norwegians and local customers.
Had a great time performing, super inspired by the wonderful musicians Jessie Montgommery (violin) and Amanda Gookin (cello).
Read more about it on www.cafedeconcert.no/blog

17th of May in New York

Tue, 2010-05-18 11:10


I remember my first time in New York on May 15th 2007. Walking down Lexington Avenue and 53 Street with a heart raceing like lightening, towards what was to become where my creative Manhattan-soul would blossom like never before, The Norwegian Seaman´s Church. I still have that feeling, walking down Lexington and 53rd, every time. The community of wonderful people and insanely gifted artists inspire in ways no pen in my power can yet describe. Celebrateing Norway´s National Day with all of these great people both working and hanging out at the church makes me so incredibly Norwegian! And there is nothing more Norwegian than beeing Norwegian and playing Norwegian music abroad. Especially when performing one´s own contemporary music, like I did during the official 17th of May-concert at 7 pm, last night. This was definitly the best national celebration in my life!! And I got to lead the whole parade, in my new, pink Moods of Norway-suit:) Huge Café de Concert-concert at Caffe Vivaldi tomorrow, can´t wait!!







Midnight-concert in a dance-studio (Tasapisitasakaalu studio)

Fri, 2010-05-14 16:43


I attended a photo exhibition two days ago, met some cool people from Tallin and told them I was touring Estonia. Unfortunately they weren´t able to attend any of my schedueled concerts in Tallin, Sagadi, Tartu or Pärnu. So - we came up with the idea of makeing a midnight-concert on the 13th somewhere in Tallin, so they would be able to attend the concert. I talked with a new and wonderful friend I just met a couple of hours earlier, the extraordinary and talented Helen Lõhmus (which actually was the one who envited me the exibithion in the first place) and within the day, she had found a perfect location for our spontanious-made concert, and by the end of the following day, there were 96 attending on the concerts facebook-event. Just after my performance in Pärnu on the 13th, my supercool manager for the Estonia-tour drove me 1,5 hours straight back to Tallin, I came to the dance-studio at two minutes to midnight - and then one of the coolest concerts I have ever played flew through the night with an amazeing crowd of at least 120 people! Can´t wait to come back to Tallin in July! Helen - you rock!

Pärnu - one of the cities I will return to this summer :)

Fri, 2010-05-14 16:30


A full house with an audience who gave me so much energy made even the weather Gods respond to the music.
Sunshine, rain, thunder and lightening danced along my performance outside the windows of creativity on stage.
The solo concert soon became an interesting chambermusic concert for piano, sun, water and natural electricity...mindblowing,
I´ll never forget it! And what a magnificant Estinoa grand piano it had...!!!


Tour Manager in thinking-mode...





Tartu - the town in Estonia where time stands still

Fri, 2010-05-14 16:20


Something happenes when you drive in to Tartu, some magic clock says stop - and you float around between space and nowhere. Which is a great feeling! One I gladly took with me into the University Hall on May 12th, a most outstanding concert hall with fantastic acoustics and a marvellous Steinway D-model. This place used to be the hottest hall to perform in in these parts during the Soviet-time, I can understand why. But not why it isn´t marketed better these days. That remains for me a mistery. But what a great time I had performing in that hall...I completely forgot time and space....



Concert at the Norwegian Embassy´s galla dinner, Tallin

Tue, 2010-05-11 08:33


The Norwegian Embassy envited me to do a concert performance under their galla dinner at the well known Olympia Hotel in Tallin. Great fun, lots of interesting people - GREAT FOOD!!!!











The wonderful Nano-house

Mon, 2010-05-10 21:00


If you´re in Tallin you need to check out this supercool café/restaurant, run by Priit Kuusik and his world famous wife and model Beatrice, check out www.agencybeta.ee. I believe she is the coolest model, with insanely cool ideas, I have ever met!
Here you get home made gourmet food - and the best breakfast you have EVER had!











Aksel "off stage" in Tallin

Sun, 2010-05-09 22:05

"Pikk" means something quite special in Norwegian...


"Segway" - the new way to go sightseeing!




Wonderful friends!!


Look what I found wondering in the streets of Tallin!!?? Kristin Dahle - head of Innovation Norway for the Americas.... :)

Latest posts

Post covid 19 aera
Three months at the farm gave muscles and lots of new ideas! Inspiration and a new force! Watch out, here comes the post covid 19 aera!...
Survival of the most creative
Da bretter pianisten opp ermene og river til et tak for norsk matproduksjon og jordbruk hos en av Norges største melkeprodusenter; Thorsø Herregård, tre dager i uka m...
Last couple of months on the road
Photo: Kenneth Enstad Been a wild ride since December. Here are a few highlights! Café de Concert Oslo, Denmark, Red Cross Oslo, Christmas Concert, Sweden, Documenta...
Grinding
Grinding. Always grinding. What my pops said....
Superman for Christmas
Standing ovation in Lublin, Poland, three days ago during the Wieniawski Festival 2019, where also Vadim Brodski performed (!!!).  (Last photo from the Lublin Philh...
Concerts are (almost) done before summer, then it is ALL SUP!!!!!
This month has been an absolute concert and SUP-mania! Check out the Café de Concert-blog for more photos from all of the SUP events! As of from today most of the con...
Los Angeles: Check!
Just came back from an awesome concert experience in Los Angeles, which hopefully will end up in a lagrer scale at the Walt Disney Concert hall this fall. Stay tuned!...
Season blossoming
2019 is blooming with lots of fun concerts and exciting plans! May will consist of concerts in Los Angeles, Iasi (Romania) and probably also Vigo (Spain). In April I...
Winter is coming!
November and December are so far equally as much on the stage as on the water. And I still believe I can fly, lol!...
Jul, bursdag & portrett på dass
Søndag steg ballongene til værs da Son Spa slo på stortromma og lot undertegnede få frie tøyler....risky business, men med et alltid uforglemmelig og vinnende utfal...
Performed on a truck in Transylvania!
Playing on a truck driving through Transylvania in Romania, late September, is by far one of the craziest things I have ever done, what fun that was!!! Did a master c...
Back in Oslo
Home court advantage at Vulkan Arena, playing for people from all over the globe in one set, presenting the music in Russian, Bosnian, Arabic, Italian and Hebrew, wit...
My father, Albert Leon Hazan honored in Kharkiv, Ukraine
Baba was presented to the Ukranian audience in words and music on May 19th in Kharkiv with Kharkiv Philharmonic Orchestra. He was honored as a legend, like the legend...
Some highlights from winter/spring
...
New location and lots of press
Pops and I discussing the looks of the new place, business and new goals. And BOM, there you have it! Also - check out these articles / videos: The New Victor Borge? ...
Fall is on fire!
 So after 7 years at Tjuvholmen - I am moving the my pirate ship to Vulkan! Opening in oct/nov - stay tuned! However will hold the doors open at Tjuvholmen until Janu...
På side 132 i leksikon!
Som highlights from April and May... - Performed in Tallinn and tried to husstle afterwords at Tallinn Music Week - Checked out urban surfing in München - Tried make...
March Madness (North Carolina won, woho)
 It´s out :) So happy! And a little proud! It is on Spotify, Tidal, iTunes etc. Go nuts, be a lunatic!! Read more about the project here....
The Icebreaker
"The Icebreaker". Warriors have had many looks throughout history. I fight for dead composers. Frozen reality is my battlefield. I break ice. Photo: The amazing Kilia...
Spoiler alert: I am Superman and Batman
 Just finished recording all of the music for my newest album, "Moonwalk", coming out in the beginning of April. I was able to record everything in two days at Café d...