Creative team

Director: Ivar Tindberg

Ivar Tindberg is a director, writer, dramaturge and composer. He is particularly known for his work in musical theater. Ivar Tindberg studied music, theater and literature at the University of Oslo and directing at the National Academy of Theater. His breakthrough as a director came when he staged the popular revue Tusen år og lige blid (A Thousand Years and Just as Gentle) for The Norwegian Theatre (1997), a production for which he also wrote the music.

He has since had success with productions for Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre) and Nationaltheatret, and has also written for stage, radio and television. In 2000, Ivar Tindberg won the Prix Italia for best musical drama for radio for Bokken Lasson – Sensibel suksess (NRK) to music by Gisle Kverndokk. As a playwright, he made his debut in collaboration with Catrine Telle with Ibsen’s Children at Trøndelag Theatre in 1991. Tindberg wrote the libretto for and directed Gisle Kverndokk’s opera version of Falkberget’s The Fourth Night Watch, which premiered at The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in 2005. Tonje Glimmerdal, in his adaptation and direction for The Norwegian Theatre (2013), was nominated for the Hedda Award for best production for children and youth. Other opera productions include “Viva la Mama”, The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet (2015), “Eugene Onegin”, Arktisk Filharmoni (2015), “The Magic Flute”, Opera Østfold (2017), “Violated”, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra (2019), “The Flying Dutchman”, Opera Østfold (2022) and “The Commander”, Oscarsborgoperaen (2023).

Musical director: Martin Wettges

Martin Wettges was born in Regensburg in 1983 and studied conducting at the music academies in Cincinnati, Vienna and Munich. He was chorus master and conductor at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo before taking up his current position as professor at the Music Conservatory in Basel.

Wettges has conducted the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Georgian Chamber Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Peru, Orquesta de la Ciudad de Lima, Munich Radio Orchestra and Munich Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie Bad Reichenhall and Orchestre de la Région Reunion, among others. In 2015, he made a guest appearance at the ClassikArt Festival in Madagascar with musicians from Deutsche Oper Berlin. As a choral conductor, he has worked with the choir of the Herrenchiemsee Festival, the Meininger Kantorei, the Münchner Konzertchor, the Münchner Motettenchor, the choir of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, the children’s choir of the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Münchner Knabenchor, the choir of the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, the Südtiroler Kammerchor and the Suhler Singakademie. As artistic director of the choir festival Various Voices, he conducted Carmina Burana at Munich’s Odeonsplatz in 2018 with around 5,000 participants. Since 2009, he has been music director of the Mauritius Opera. Guest conducting engagements have taken him to the opera houses of Coburg, Eisenach, Karlstad, La Réunion, Leipzig, Lima, Munich (Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz and Münchner Opernfestspiele) and as assistant conductor of the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin and the Munich Biennale. From 2013 he was engaged as chorus master at Opera North in Leeds and has made guest appearances at the Aldeburgh Festival, Royal Opera House Belfast, The Lowry Manchester, Theatre Royal Newcastle and Theatre Royal Nottingham. In 2016, he moved to Meiningen Staatstheater as Chorus Master and Kapellmeister, where, in addition to opera performances, he regularly conducted symphony concerts with the traditional Meininger Hofkapelle. Since 2019, he has held the same position at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. From 2008-13, he taught orchestral conducting at the Munich Academy of Music. In addition, he taught at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, at the College-Conservatory of Music Cincinnati, at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, at the Conservatoire Frédéric Mitterand Mauritius, at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding, at the Conservatoire de la Région Réunion, and for Talent Norge/dirigentforum kor in Oslo.

Costume designer: Anette Werenskiold

Anette Werenskiold is a graduate of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and has worked as a costume designer since 2002. Her opera productions include “Czardasfyrstinnen”, “Eugene Onegin” and “La Boheme” at the Opera in Kristiansund, “Dustefjerten” at Opera Sør, “Viva la Mamma” at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, “La Boheme” and “Eugene Onegin” at Nordnorsk Opera og Symfoniorkester, “Tosca” and “Kveiteprinsen” at Kilden. She has also designed costumes for “Oliver!” for Oslo Nye Teater (Oslo New Theatre), “Falling in Love with Shakespeare” at The National Theatre, “Wendy and Peter” at The National Stage, “A Christmas Carol”, “Amadeus”, “Les Miserables”, “The Black Rider” and “Chicago” for Hålogaland Theatre, “The Hourless” for Teater Manu, “The Misanthrope” and “Little Shop of Horrors” for Rogaland Theatre.

Anette Werenskiold was nominated for the Hedda Award 2020 in the best costume design category for “In Love with Shakespeare”, The National Theatre, 2019/2020. Werenskiold was also the costume designer for “The Magic Flute” in connection with Opera Østfold’s outdoor opera at Fredriksten Festning in 2017.

Translator: Trond Bjerkholt

Trond Bjerkholt was born in 1970 in Oslo. He trained as a librarian at the Norwegian School of Library and Information Science and as a singer at the Bergen Academy of Music. Since 2006, he has been a permanent member of the Norwegian Opera Chorus. He has arranged his own concerts in Oslo, primarily with German lieder. He has written program texts and translations for the Opera, including Honegger’s “Le Roi David” (performed in 2012). He has also contributed articles on cultural history to the Catholic journals “St Olav” and “Segl”, and has published two collections of poetry.