General requests
mathias.halvorsen@gmail.com
And Then There Were None
Contact form: Nordiska
La Boheme/ Salome /Tosca
Ciska Gomperts-Spanjaard
info@com-pris.nl
MATHIAS HALVORSEN
Mathias Halvorsen is a Norwegian pianist and composer based in Reykjavik, with a practice spanning solo performance, chamber music, composition, and staged and conceptual projects. His repertoire combines core piano literature with lesser-performed Nordic late-romantic works, and his work is characterised by a sustained interest in sound, structure, and dramaturgy — both solo, in chamber music or in collaboration with orchestras.
He studied piano with Professor Jiří Hlinka in Oslo (2006–2010) and Professor Gerald Fauth in Leipzig (2011–2013).
In 2025, he was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannprisen) for the album Piano Concertos for the Left Hand, featuring Ravel and Korngold with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and conductor Otto Tausk. The recording received international critical attention, including BBC Record Review, which noted that it “holds its own with some of the great recordings.”
As a soloist, Halvorsen has appeared at major European concert venues including Berliner Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, as well as festivals such as Beethovenfest Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Brighton Festival and Meltdown Festival.
Alongside his solo work, he has developed an extensive chamber music and project-based profile. Since 2019, he has collaborated with violinist Mathieu van Bellen on staged versions of operas such as La Bohème, Tosca, and Salome, in arrangements for violin and piano that condense orchestral and vocal material into a chamber format with integrated surtitles. La Bohème was recorded for Backlash Music and received critical attention from, among others, BBC Music Magazine, The Sunday Times, Trouw, and Klassekampen.
His discography also includes projects that explore alternative approaches to the piano repertoire, such as recordings of Bach on prepared piano and collaborative reinterpretations of the Goldberg Variations with percussionist Jan Martin Gismervik.
As a composer and stage artist, Halvorsen works at the intersection of opera, music theatre, and concert formats. His opera based on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None — the first operatic adaptation of any work by Christie — premiered in 2023 and was described by NRK as “a criminally powerful Agatha Christie opera.”
He has also developed a number of conceptual and audience-oriented projects, including Lost in Beethoven, an interactive performance format based on Beethoven’s piano sonatas, premiered at Beethovenfest Bonn, and The Transfigurator 3000, which explores participatory composition through alternative notation systems.
Halvorsen is the co-founder, together with violinist Magnus Boye Hansen, of the LightsOut project, presenting concerts performed in complete darkness since 2010.
He is currently recording the complete piano works of Christian Sinding for LAWO Classics — a long-term project aiming to promote a significant but underperformed part of the Norwegian repertoire.
Mathias Halvorsen is the artistic director of PODIUM – Fartein Valen International Music Festival, which he leads together with double bassist Nikolai Matthews.
PRESS (SELECTED)
Piano Concertoes for Left Hand and Orchestra
“Brilliantly interpreted by Mathias Halvorsen.”
— Deutschlandfunk Kultur
“Halvorsen is a strong-centered soloist with a focused, glittering touch.”
— BBC Music Magazine
“Halvorsen and Tausk make something truly special out of both concertos.”
— Trouw
“It holds its own with some of the great recordings.”
— BBC Record Review
“I have nothing but admiration for this recording.”
— Planet Hugill
“Beautifully played!”
— Audiophilia
Chamber & Staged Projects (selected)
“Through musicianship that at times takes the breath away … an astonishing fullness and richness.”
— The Sunday Times ★★★★★
“A ravishing achievement.”
— BBC Music Magazine ★★★★★
“Insanely successful.”
— de Volkskrant