Two Journeys
A musical celebration of two cultures, Norwegian and Russian, performed by prize winning artists, Elisabeth Turmo (violin, Hardanger fiddle) and Elena Toponogova (piano).
Elisabeth Turmo is a Norwegian violinist currently living in London, studying at the Royal College of Music, where she is taking a Masters in Performance. She is known for her stage presence and singing tone quality as well as conveying the stormful temperament of a Northern Norwegian.
Elisabeth recently appeared as a soloist with the Arctic Philharmonic, under the direction of conductor Christian Lindberg. She performed solo with and led the Oslo Chamber Orchestra in 2014. Elisabeth has also appeared as a soloist in the Norwegian Opera House with the Barratt Due Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, Elisabeth played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Toppen International Festival Orchestra under the direction of conductor Nicholas Carthy, and Elisabeth’s trio received first prize in the National Norwegian Youth Competition in Oslo. Elisabeth has also recently performed in venues such as Dulwich Picture Gallery and St. Mary Abbots in London.
Elisabeth also plays the Norwegian National Instrument, the Harding Fiddle, and was studying with Arne Viken.
She completed her Bachelor studies at Barratt Due Institute of Music with professor Detlef Hahn. Elisabeth started learning the violin when she was seven years old with Trond Wika. At the age of 12 Elisabeth became one of the youngest students ever to be admitted to the Young Talents Program at the conservatory in Trondheim where she studied with professor Bjarne Fiskum.
She has received numerous prizes and scholarships, including the Jansons Legat, Thomas Fearnley, Heddy and Nils Astrup scholarship, the savingsbank 1 North of Norway scholarship, the Pjotr Janowskis scholarship, Norwegian Tipping Dream Scholarship, Nordand Fylkesting Youth Culture Prize 2007, the Helgeland Sparebanks culture scholarship, Scholarship from Vefsn Arbeiderparti, Talentforum Nordland Prize, Young Soloist on Helgeland Prize, Bera Evensens legacy 2008, Sparebank1 NordNorges fund 2009.
As a soloist she has played on festivals such as Nordland Music Festweek in Bodø, Kon Tiki Music Festival in Oslo, Blåfrost festivalen in Rognan, Stift festival in Holland, Astona International Music Festival in Switzerland, Toppen International Music Festival, Valdres Music Festival, Grieg in Bergen and Oseana Music Festival.
She has played in masterclasses with world-renowned artists including Ivry Gitlis, Dora Schwartsberg, Kyoko Takezawa, Isabelle van Keulen, Daniel Rowland, Henning Kraggeud, David Früwirth, Hugo Ticciati, Robert Rozek, Almita and Roland Vamous. Elisabeth is playing on a Jacob von der Lippe violin, 2009, kindly on loan from Helgeland Sparebank's instrument foundation.
"She appears as a born soloist" – Jostein Pedersen.
Elena Toponogova is an emerging concert pianist from Siberia based in London. Her musicianship encompasses high intelligence with searching interpretation and wide emotional range.
Elena recently received her Master of Performance degree from the Royal College of Music, studying under Norma Fisher. Her studies were kindly supported by the Norah Seary Trust, Altrusa Careers Trust, the Future of Russia Foundation and Tsukanov Family Foundation. She previously graduated with distinction from the Academic Music College at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she was a recipient of Elina Bystritzkaya scholarship.
She has worked with a number of prominent pianists and teachers including Dirk Mommertz, Grigory Gruzman, Olga Gvozdeva, Carles Lama and Irina Chukovskaya. Elena took part in many international festivals such as Bloomsbury festival and Liszt piano festival, London. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the UK, Germany, Russia and appeared in many prestigious concert halls such as Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and Amaryllis Fleming Hall, London.