Lunchtime Concert: Bøler Skolekor
Bøler Skolekor is among one of the best school choirs in Oslo, Norway consisting of 30 singers with ages ranging from 10 to 17 years. For several years they have travelled abroad and given informal concerts in churches all around Europe. Their repertoire embraces all genres from ballads, classical and church music, to folk music and jazz.
Repertoire
The Lord bless you and keep you – Rutter
Messe Bréve: Gloria – Delibes
Jubilate Deo – Hernes
Ave Maria – Franck
Panis Angelicus – Franck
Deo dicamus gratias – G.A Homilius
Lift thine eyes – Mendelssohn
Fryd deg storlig (oversettes Rejoice Greatly) – Sløgedal
Weddingmarch from Vågå – Krohn
Vere languores nostros – Lotti
Sound the Trumpet – Purcell
Conductor: Vigdis Oftung
Vigdis Oftung trained as a pianist and music teacher at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo. It was there that she began her long tenure as conductor of Bøler School Choir — one of Oslo’s finest school choirs — a position she has now held for more than 50 years! In 1988, she founded Oslo Vocalis, which she has built through dedication and perseverance into a choir of exceptional quality.
Her work has been widely recognised. In 2004, the county of Oslo awarded her a stipend for over 30 years of work with amateur singers. In 2007, the Norwegian Children’s and Youth Choir Foundation named her Best Conductor of Children’s and Youth Choirs in Norway 2006. In spring 2015, she received a local award for 40 years of devoted choral work in Bøler, and in 2018 the Norwegian Choir Federation honoured her for more than 40 years of conducting.
Pianist: Trond Oftung
Trond Egil Oftung, born in 1957, was educated as a diploma organist and conductor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He has been the leader and conductor of the choir for 38 years and also conducts a mixed oratorio choir. With his choirs, he has performed a wide range of repertoire — from children’s songs to major works such as Messiah by Handel, Requiem by Mozart, Brahms, Verdi, Fauré, and Rutter, as well as St. Paul and Elijah by Mendelssohn, and Stabat Mater by Rossini — often in collaboration with professional orchestras and soloists.
In 1998, he was awarded “The Prize of the City of Moss” for his career as a choir conductor. In 2007, he received the Norwegian award “Children’s Choir Conductor of the Year.”