Regnbuen Children and Youth Orchestra

Music & culture

Sep 7

Who: Regnbuen Children and Youth Orchestra

What: Orchestra for children

Where: Bergen

Project period: 2021

Web: Regnbuen Orchestra

Regnbuen Children and Youth Orchestra offers a unique and thriving space for developing future musicians, with high ambitions both musically and socially.

The Orchestra has its rehearsals in the city center, at the Møhlenpris school, but recruits musicians from all of Bergen. There are about equal number of boys and girls in the Orchestra, stemming from different social circles and with background from a variety of different countries. The Orchestra gives the children an additional social arena where they are required to work with others to mask together complicated musical performances.

The young musicians “level up” when they are ready, from the junior orchestra, via the main orchestra, to the chamber orchestra. The combination of rehearsals in the different, smaller orchestras, as well as in the full orchestra, gives the youngest children the support they need to reach further, while the oldest can excel in the chamber orchestra.

The musicians are usually active in summer programs and other circumstances throughout the year, and some of the members have also had success in competitions for string players. Several members have specialized in music at the well esteemed Langhaugen upper secondary school, and some have also ended up as professional musicians after having studied music at a higher level.

The Orchestra is run by an enthusiastic board of parents and is connected to the Bergen Culture School through the engagement of two of the best teachers as conductors; Kari Knudsen and Stefan Bivand. Both conductors have extensive experience and can show excellent results in their field. They are artistic directors both for Regnbuen and for the summer program Sommerstryk.

The financial support from the Grieg Foundation makes it possible to cooperate with top musicians, both at seminars and in concert productions, as the Orchestra did in the spring of 2021 when Alexander Kagan, the concertmaster of the Bergen Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted and played with the Orchestra. This was his first experience working with children, and it gave our members a truly special concert weekend. The Orchestra will continue with such productions within different genres.