tALENTS

Marcus Bartoletti is a young baritone from Stockholm, Sweden. In the spring of 2023 he graduated from the Master Programme in Opera at The Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg. In their graduate production of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Marcus portrayed the role of the father Peter Besenbinder.

He did his internship at Norrlandsoperan in The Emperor’s New Clothes by Miloš Vacek. In the summer of 2022 he appeared in Opera på Skäret’s production of Un ballo in maschera by Verdi, as Cristiano/Silvano. Since then he has performed roles such as Il sagrestano in Tosca, Escamillo in Carmen, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus and Bonzo and Prince Yamadori in Madama Butterfly.

So far this year he has sung Schaunard at Oslo National Academy of the Arts & Mozarteum University Salzburg, Marcello in La Bohème at Norrlandsoperan, Le Bailli in Werther at Opera på Österbybruk, Mercurio and Littore in L’incoronazione di Poppea at Vattnäs Concert Barn. He just finished singing Il Sagrestano in Tosca at Folkoperan in Stockholm, where he is also a part of their Talent Programme for the 25/26 season. Upcoming performances include Die Fledermaus at Vattnäs Concert Barn and Norrköping Concert Hall.

Aside from the opera repertoire, Marcus has experience in singing in oratory concerts such as Handel’s The Messiah, St John Passion by Bach, Requiem by Mozart and Fauré and God in Disguise by Lars-Erik Larsson. In the spring of 2024 he sang the role of Iesus in B Tommy Andersson’s Passio, which world premiered in seven different places around Sweden simultaneously. He has also participated in masterclasses with Peter Mattei, John Lundgren, Tobias Ringborg, Sesto Quatrini, Jacopo Spirei and Pietro Spagnoli to mention a few.

Solveig Bergersen is a soprano from Jæren, currently based in Stockholm. In 2023 she completed the Opera Programme at Stockholm University of the Arts, performing the role of La Fée in Massenet’s Cendrillon as her graduation production at Folkoperan in Stockholm. She previously graduated with a bachelor’s degree in classical performance (voice) from the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Solveig made her debut as an intern at the Royal Swedish Opera as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte in the autumn of 2022. In autumn 2023 she had the pleasure of returning to the role of Papagena with Orkester Nord, conducted by Martin Wåhlberg, in Clermont-Ferrand, France. This later resulted in a recording of Die Zauberflöte, released in 2025 by the French label Apaté, where Solveig received praise in Pizzicato.lu’s review: (…) Solveig Bergersen is a delightful Papagena.

In December 2023 she was the soprano soloist in Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium in Kristiansand Cathedral together with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. In spring 2024 she was the soprano soloist in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at Stavanger Concert Hall, conducted by Bjarte Engeset. That summer she took on a new role in her beloved Zauberflöte, performing Pamina at Strömstadoperan. The year 2025 has included stepping in as Papagena in Trollflöjten at Uppsala City Theatre and performing the soprano solo in Schubert’s Mass in G major in Ösmo Church.

In July she made her debut as Gudrun in The St. Olav Drama at Stiklestad, receiving strong reviews, including in Trønderavisa: Gudrun has gained an entirely new presence in Solveig Bergersen’s interpretation. The girl is much more happy and bright than wild and mad. Bergersen smiles and conjures up an ordinary teenage girl who carries emotional baggage, rather than a purely quarrelsome lunatic. I like it.

In autumn 2025 Solveig is part of Folkoperan’s Talent Programme while also serving as an understudy at the Royal Swedish Opera. In February she appears in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at Folkoperan, performing the role of Aminta.

Photo: Uǧur Şeker

Norwegian Soprano Helena Bjarkadóttir is currently in the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Danish Theatre. An alumna of The Royal Opera Academy of Copenhagen, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Stavanger University, Helena has nurtured a passion for performance in operas, concerts and recitals.

Her upcoming engagements include recitals of Vier Letzte Lieder by Strauss and in the coming season, Helena will perform as Contessa di Ceprano in Rigoletto and the Marchande de Modes in Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Danish Theatre.

Ema Delac-Tomasi is a Croatian mezzo-soprano based in Oslo, Norway. She holds a master’s degree in opera singing from the Opera Academy in Oslo. During her time at the academy, she had the opportunity to explore many operatic roles in full productions, including Bizet’s Carmen, the title role in Telemann’s Orpheus, Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Polinesso in Ariodante by the same composer, and Lel and Vesna in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden, among others. In her short time living in Norway, she has gained extensive experience as a concert singer, performing as a soloist in works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Iver Kleive’s Requiem. Ema currently holds a permanent position as a first alto in the opera choir of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

Gustav Johansson is a bass, trained at the Opera Academy in Copenhagen, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and Vadstena Academy.

In the 2025–26 season, he is part of Folkoperan’s Talent Programme, where he sings the roles of Angelotti and the Jailer in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca at Folkoperan and Norrlandsoperan.

He has appeared in Vadstena Academy’s productions of Andefabriken by Daniel Nelson (world premiere), Breaking the Waves by Missy Mazzoli (Scandinavian premiere), and Gluntarne by Gunnar Wennerberg. He has also sung the role of Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors at Søholm Opera. Other productions include the solo performance Eight Songs for a Mad King by Peter Maxwell Davies with Insimul Sinfonietta from Stavanger, as well as Fredmans Kærlighed, based on songs by Carl Michael Bellman, which he also wrote and produced.

He has previously performed at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen in the opera The Nose by Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as in Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Other engagements include the Commandatore in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Opera Rogaland and Billy Jackrabbit in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West at Opera Hedeland.

Since the 2023/24 season, Gustav has been engaged with the Malmö Opera Chorus, and at Malmö Opera he has appeared as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, as Talbot in Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco, and as a Soldier in Strauss’s Salome. He was also a soloist in Bruckner’s Te Deum.

Photo: Dakshina Diaz

Sally Lundgren, mezzo-soprano, was born and raised in Stockholm. After studies at the Vadstena Academy of Singing and Piano, she completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied with soprano Kate Paterson, with Marek Ruszczynski as répétiteur. In spring 2025, Sally earned her Master’s degree in Opera from the Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg. In the 2025/26 season, she is part of the Talent Programme at Folkoperan in Stockholm, where she will make her debut in the role of Argene in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade.

She is in demand as an opera, oratorio, and concert soloist. Her repertoire includes, among others, Madame Flora in The Medium, Un pâtre, La chatte and L’écureuil in L’enfant et les sortilèges, as well as Dorabella in Così fan tutte. She has performed works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, to name just a few. Sally has participated in masterclasses with, among others, John Lundgren, Katarina Dalayman, and Helmut Deutsch.

In 2025, Sally became the first singer ever to receive the Dellefors Scholarship. She has also gratefully received support through several other scholarships, including those from the Carl Larsson Foundation, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien in Sweden, the Anders Sandrew Foundation, Uppfostringsfonderna, the Anna Whitlock Memorial Fund, the Thora Ohlsson Foundation, and the Royal Academy of Music.

Sebastian began playing the piano at the age of nine and is currently studying in Copenhagen with Professor Jens Elvekjær.

He has received several awards in both national and international competitions. In 2024, he won The Norwegian Soloist Prize and NRK’s soloist competition Virtuos, and represented Norway in Eurovision Young Musicians in Bodø 2024.

Sebastian has performed at venues and festivals such as the Bergen International Festival, the Oslo Concert Hall, and The Aula Series, where he and violinist Alma Kraggerud inaugurated the new Debut Series with three duorecitals.

Born in New York City in 2005, Annissa started playing the violin at the age of four. Currently a student of Itzhak Rashkovsky and Peter Herresthal, she holds a Master of Performance from the Royal College of Music in London, as an RCM Scholar, and a Bachelor of Music from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. She previously studied with Serguei Azizian.

Annissa had her solo debut with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra at the age of eight and has since performed with orchestras including Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Camerata MHI, Oslo Chamber Festival orchestra, Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic and various youth orchestras.

Annissa has acted as concertmaster for several Royal College of Music orchestras and numerous youth and festival orchestras in Sweden, Norway, Canada and Denmark. She has also led chamber groups in multiple RCM showcase performances. She is a teaching assistant to Peter Herresthal and is on the faculty of the Young Musician’s Academy in Sweden.

Annissa has performed extensively across Scandinavia and Europe as well as in the United States. Recent highlights include London’s Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and New York’s Merkin Hall. Recent festival appearances include Taipei Music Academy Festival, Kaufmann SummerFest, Oslo Chamber Festival and Lafsfjordens Music Festival. In addition, she has performed in public masterclasses for, among others: Pinchas Zukerman, Li Lin, Paul Roczek, Dora Schwarzberg, Olivier Charlier, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Pavel Vernikov, Milan Vitek, Patinka Kopec and Brian Lewis.

Since 2019, Annissa performs on a violin by Stefan-Peter Greiner on generous loan from the Augustinus Foundation.

Maya Broman Crawford-Phillips is a Swedish/British violinist currently studying with Akiko Ono at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Her previous teachers were Nina Balabina, Alf Richard Kraggerud and Boris Brovtsyn. 

She has been a prize-winner in several National and International competitions such as Polstjärnepriset, Øresunds solist, SIMC and the Nordic International Competition. 

In January 2024, as a finalist in the Polstjärnepriset, Maya performed as soloist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Previously she has also been concertmaster of the Polstjärnepriset orchestra, performing in both Sweden and Norway. Most recently, Maya competed in BBC’s Young Musician reaching the semi-final as one of only six instrumentalists.

In 2020 she received the Welin Scholarship for young string players and the Kerstin and Sigge Strand scholarship.

She also regularly performs with the O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra as part of their New-Generation program in venues such as the Elbphilharmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin. Maya has performed for the King and Queen of Sweden, at Västerås Konserthus, Sveriges Riksdagshus, Maidenhead Chamber Music Society, Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Penarth Chamber Music Festival and the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival.  

In 2019 she was selected for the Young Musicians’ Academy, (National Center for Music Talent), and participated in a series of masterclasses every year with many internationally acclaimed musicians – Philippe Graffin, Olivier Charlier, Denis Goldfelt, Alissa Margulis, Massimo Quarta, amongst others.

Maya is an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with Ashley Wass, Priya Mitchell, Hugo Ticcciati, Gareth Lubbe and Julian Arp. 

Birgitta Elisa Oftestad is an exciting young Norwegian cellist with a unique stage presence. She was born in Oslo in 2002 and lifted her first cello bow at the age of five. Since then, she has moved audiences with her rich, expressive sound and profound musicality, both in the large concert halls and on intimate stages. And she has, as soloist, won 18 national and international 1st prizes. 

Birgitta represented Norway, and made it to the final, in the international competition “Eurovision Young Musicians” in Edinburgh in 2018. The same year she won the Norwegian broadcasting corporation – NRK’s competition “Virtuos”, “the Norwegian Soloist Prize”, and “Frans Helmerson’s award” during the cello festival at The Kronberg academy.

In 2019 Birgitta opened the Oslo Chamber Music Festival’s 30th anniversary with Bach’s cello suite no 4, repeating Truls Mørk’s opening program from the first festival in 1969. And in 2021, she performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, after being the youngest winner of the Oslo Philharmonic’s “Young Soloist Competition”. Her appearances include playing with orchestras such as the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony orchestra, Trondheim Soloists, Ålesund Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Youth Philharmonic, Oslo Symphony Orchestra, the University Orchestra, Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, Telemark Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber orchestra, Oslo Camerata and David Geringa’s orchestra. 

Birgitta is a passionate chamber musician and she has played with different musicians, such as Christian Ihle Hadland, Henning Kraggerud, Mari Silje and Håkon Samuelsen, Per Arne Glorvigen, Nikita Khnykin, Igor Eliseer, Eivind Ringstad, Alexandra Conunova, Ian Bostridge, Wolfgang Plagge, Andreas Brantelid and Lars Anders Tomter.

She has played at many festivals, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has had her own recital at the Bergen International Festival, and has been a soloist at the Frankishe Müsiktage, Alzenau, with Diana Adamyan. Other festivals include Verbier festival, Stavanger Chamber music festival, Bowdoin International Festival, Hardanger Music fest,The Aula series, Sunnmøre Chamber music Festival, Valdres Summer Symphony, Oslo Cello Festival, Hamar Chamber music festival and Kaunas festival. She has also premiered pieces for cello solo and orchestra by Ørjan Matre, Christoffer Håård and Peder Barratt-Due. 

Birgitta studies with prof. Thorleif Thedèen at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. She has previously studied with Louisa Tuck and Ole Eirik Ree at Barratt Due Music Institute in Oslo, and she had Truls Mørk and Andreas Brantelid as supplementary teachers. She has taken part in the Barratt Due Young Talents, the Crescendo Mentor Programme and the ARTex talent development program (2021-23).

She plays on a Peter Westerlund cello, generously on loan from Dextra Musica.

Hugo Svedberg, 16, has been studying cello since the age of 6 and currently studies with Adrian Brendel in the UK.
In 2024, Hugo was awarded 1st prize in the ‘Pole Star Prize’ for Swedish Young Musicians, and performed Schumann Concerto as soloist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Following his win, he represented Sweden in the EBU ‘Eurovision Young Musicians’  in Norway in August 2024, winning the 2nd Prize performing Haydn Concerto in C with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, broadcast on television through Europe. 
Hugo has won the Two Moors Festival Competition and Bromsgrove Young Musicians Senior Platform. He has had masterclasses with cellists including Torlief Thedeen, Johannes Moser, Natalie Clean and Helen Dautry and regularly attends the Voksenasen Summer Academy.
In 2023, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock at the Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommern. 
Hugo plays a fine Dollenz cello on loan from a generous sponsor through the Beares International Violin Society.

“Click below to watch Hugo on the BBC Young Musician of the Year semi-final:

H. Arlen: Over The Rainbow (arr. Tom Poster)

R. Schumann: Fantasiestucke (III.)

G. Crumb: Solo sonata (I.)”

The Monbijou Quartet has quickly gained a reputation as one of Scandinavia’s most promising young quartets since its founding in the fall of 2022. Shortly after their first performances, they won the Swedish chamber music competition Ung & Lovande 2023, and a tour of Sweden was planned and took place with over 30 concerts in 2024/25. They have also been finalists in the Szymanowski International Music Competition and won an award for the best performance of a contemporary piece. They are currently studying for a string quartet diploma at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Tim Frederiksen.

The Saphir Quartet consists of Amanda Noor Vatn, Philippe Jayer, Torje Råbu and Iris Kalliovirta, all born in 2006. They started playing together in 2018, while in the same class at school, and studying at Barratt-Due institute of music in Oslo. The quartet has performed at many esteemed venues, for example the Royal Palace of Norway, the National Theatre, the Nidaros Cathedral, and the University of Oslo’s Aula. Being part of Oslo Quartet Series’
talent program for young string quartets, they have performed at Sentralen and Gamle Logen, and had numerous masterclasses with international quartets, such as the Juilliard Quartet, Belcea Quartet, Brentano Quartet, Vertavo Quartet, Engegård Quartet, and Danish String Quartet.

In 2019, Saphir appeared on Norway’s Got Talent, where they got the golden buzzer, resulting in worldwide attention and praise from the renowned YouTubers TwoSet Violin. Saphir has played at various Norwegian chamber music festivals, namely the Hemsing Festival; Horten chamber music festival; Brahms på 123; and Absolutt Haydn, Vertavo’s 35th-anniversary celebration. A very fun project happened in 2022, when they collaborated with the Norwegian Girls’ Choir, premiering a work called “Å høyra til” for string quartet and choir by the Norwegian composer Ståle Kleiberg. At the end of 2022, Saphir produced their own Christmas concert at Sentralen, inviting fellow student musicians to create a chamber orchestra, additionally including harpsichord, wind instruments, and singers.

In 2022 the Saphir quartet won their class at the Midgard Competition, and in 2023, they received the highest prize, the Midgard Prize, from the competition. In 2024, Saphir received 1. Price in the junior string division of the 51st annual Fischoff national chamber music competition. In conjunction with participating in the Fischoff National Competition of 2023, the quartet held concerts for the May 17th celebrations in New York at the Norwegian
Seamen’s Church and at DNB New York. In January of 2024, the Saphir Quartet got to play together with the Danish String Quartet at Gamle Logen in Oslo.

On Saphir’s repertoire is quartets by Grieg, Bartok, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Dvořák, Beethoven and Tsintsadze. Their teacher, Kari Ravnan, is a cellist in the Oslo Philharmonic, and has instructed the quartet since 2018.

Milosz Krawczyk (b. 2004), a Swedish-Polish composer, began his musical journey in Nyköping before studying composition, piano, and conducting at Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. There, he was mentored by Matthew Peterson, Daniel Nelson, Martin Sturfält, and Mika Eichenholz, and also received private lessons from Professor Krzysztof Grzeszczak in Łódź, Poland. He is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH) under Djuro Živković, developing a musical voice influenced by sacred traditions, folk music, and Eastern European modernism.

At just 17, Krawczyk made his debut with his first orchestral work at KMH. The following year, he was commissioned by the Nyköping Philharmonic Society to compose an orchestral overture, a piece that received significant media attention. His chamber, orchestral, and choral works have since been performed in Sweden and the Baltics by renowned ensembles and soloists, including the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, soprano Iris Oja, and pianist Kadri-Ann Sumera.

Krawczyk’s work has earned him scholarships from institutions such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Bifrost Order, O/Modernt, and the Karin and Einar Blomsjö Foundation. Beyond composing, he is active as an arranger, pianist, and conductor, with his arrangements commissioned by and performed at venues including the Stockholm Concert Hall. In his free time, he enjoys poetry, literature, exploring nature through long cycling trips, and playing electric bass in a rock band with friends.

Julia Constance Wiger-Nordås (b. 2001) is an experimental composer of handwritten music, emphasizing intuition and radicality. She often combines different art forms and explores distinctive concert formats (long silences, sauna concerts). Her music has opened sacred art exhibitions, toured with the Sonora Ensemble, and been performed at the Lucerne Festival. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in composition from the Grieg Academy and the Zurich University of the Arts, and is currently freelancing in Bergen.

Photo: Julius von Lorentz

Yuto Obata is a Japanese composer based in Helsinki, Finland.

Obata’s music features delicate acoustics, aiming to expand the sonic possibilities of acoustic instruments and create a unique sonority. International ensembles such as Norrbotten NEO and the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra have performed his works.

Obata completed his bachelor’s degree at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo in 2020 and his master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2024. He studied composition under Ryo Dainobu and Veli-Matti Puumala.

Philemon Hahn is a Swedish violinist and violist with German background. During his studies he received guidance in viola performance from Professor Tim Frederiksen at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and from Ane Gustavsson at the Ingesund School of Music. He has performed chamber music at, among others, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Glafsfjordens Music Festival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, and the Baltic Sea Festival. Philemon also has experience as a soloist, studio musician, and orchestral player, and performs regularly with orchestras in Sweden and Denmark. In 2024 he took part in Creative Dialogue near Helsinki, which strengthened his interest in contemporary music. He has participated in masterclasses with Professor Stephanie Baer from New York and Lilli Maijala from Zurich, and has received scholarships including the Hugo Alfvén Scholarship from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, as well as support from the Family John Andersson Foundation in Anderslöv and the Cathja Mörner Scholarship Fund. 

Ariane Jebsen Alvestad started playing the violin when she was 5 years old, after hearing her older cousin play. She immediately became very interested in classical music. Over time, she had the opportunity to play with fellow musicians in Bergen in various chamber groups, including Bergen philharmonic youth orchestra and Barratt Due Bergen. Ensemble playing is still one of the things she enjoys most about music. In the fall of 2020, Ariane began studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) with Peter Herresthal as her teacher. There, she received many new musical impulses, which led to a growing interest in everything from baroque to contemporary music. She is currently continuing her studies at NMH, now in her first year of the master’s program, and is a fellow at the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. In 2023, Ariane received the “Rising Star of the Year” award at the Hardanger Music Festival and was recently awarded the Dobloug Exchange Scholarship.

Phelan Nyvoll Walker, violin, is studying for a master’s degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Peter Herresthal. Walker was active as a violinist from an early age, both in his local community and on courses in other parts of the country. At the age of 10, he participated in the “Ung Klassisk” competition, and won the prestigious “Best Musician under 18” award. In the following years, he won 1st prize in his class several times and made his solo debut in 2021 with the KSO playing Prokofiev’s first violin concerto after winning the soloist award. In addition, he was a soloist with the KSO at the “sound of climate” concerts in 2023. Walker has participated in many exciting projects and festivals in recent years, including the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival and the Bergstaden Winter Festival where he was a soloist in Vivaldi’s “Winter” from The Four Seasons. Walker also has a strong commitment to contemporary music and was one of the participants in the very first “Creative Dialogue France” project under the direction of Kaaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg. In addition, Walker has been a member of Konstknekt – a mentoring program under the direction of the Berlin Philharmonic and Vinterfest i Bergstaden from 2020-2023. Walker plays a Lacombe from 1860.

Olga Melby Larsson (b. 2003) is a violinist from Bergen. She began playing the violin at the Bergen School of Culture with Kari Knudsen at the age of five. Olga completed her bachelor’s degree under Peter Herresthal at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She is an active chamber musician and has her own piano trio together with Sebastian Svenøy and Amalie Thing-Helseth. She also performs regularly with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. In 2021 she won her category in the Norwegian Youth Music Championships, and in 2024 she was a finalist in NRK’s soloist competition Virtuos. Olga plays a violin built by Peter Greiner in 2019, acquired with support from the Neumann Gift Fund.