The Grieg programme
His work played in the city where he wrote it.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jens Klostermann — CC BY-SA 2.0
Grieghallen is Bergen's principal concert hall, opened in 1978 and named after Edvard Grieg, Norway's best-known composer and a son of this city. It is home to the Bergen Philharmonic, and that is the important point: the orchestra was founded in 1765, making it among the oldest in the world — some eighty years older than the Vienna Philharmonic. Grieg himself conducted it between 1880 and 1882, and it still plays his work in the city where he wrote it. The building is modernist in concrete and glass with hard lines, and it caused argument when built for its contrast with wooden Bergen. The main hall seats around fifteen hundred and holds the city's major festivals. For a visitor: an evening here costs far less than its equivalent in a European capital, and Grieg's programme is played in its season — check before travelling.
His work played in the city where he wrote it.
Around 1,500 seats and home to the city's festivals.
Edvard Griegs plass 1, 5015 Bergen
KODE — the Four Art MuseumsKODE is Scandinavia's largest visual-art collection outside the three capitals: 1 minute walk4.3
The University Museum of BergenThe University Museum of Bergen is an institution of 1825 — older than the unive5 minutes walk4.6
The Blue StoneThe Blue Stone is a long tilted slab lying across Ole Bulls plass, sculpted by A6 minutes walk4.5
TorgallmenningenTorgallmenningen is Bergen's largest square and its commercial heart: a broad ca6 minutes walk4.1
Seamen's MonumentA bronze monument on Torgallmenningen square in central Bergen, raised in 1950 i7 minutes walk4.6A Norwegian composer (1843-1907) who built his music on Norwegian folk melody at a time when Norway was seeking a cultural identity separate from Denmark and Sweden — his best-known work is the incidental music to Peer Gynt. There are three sites in Bergen: his house at Troldhaugen on a lake south of the city, a museum with his original composing hut and a small concert hall over the water; Grieghallen; and his statue in a park in the centre.