The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's works caught the interest of China's great author Lu Xun who introduced Ibsen to a Chinese audience. Ibsen's "A Dolls House" has been performed countless times, the strong character of Nora being an inspiration also to Chinese women. The China Experimental Theater made a great impression with their guest performance of "An enemy of the people" at the Ibsen festival in Oslo in 1996. The People's Literature Publishing House published the Collected Works by Henrik Ibsen in 1995.
A great diversity of musical expressions have inspired listeners and enhanced scholarly exchanges; visiting Chinese musicians have presented concerts of traditional Chinese folkmusic, ancient Naxi minority music, Beijing Opera. Kunqu opera, now listed on UNESCOs list of intangible world heritage, was performed at the 48th Bergen International Arts Festival. Chinese Central Television portrayed the 2000 Stavanger city symphony orchestra's concert of works only by Chinese composers, directed by Chen. Famous Chinese barytone Liao Chang Yong is a winner of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition.
Edward Grieg's A-minor piano concerto and Peer Gynt suite are familiar to many Chinese listeners. Today's Norwegian virtuosos of classical music as well as masters of contemporary musical expressions in jazz or popular music have performed in the Middle Kingdom; among recent performers violinist Arve Tellefsen, cellist Øystein Birkeland and Grieg trio pianist Vebjørn Anvik, jazz musicians Bugge Wesseltoft, Bendik Hofseth, Sidsel Endresen, and the Brazz Brothers. Secret Garden, Sissel Kyrkjebø and flutist and folkmusician Steinar "Afu" Ofsdal have found a Chinese audience.
The stave churches are probably the most famous component of Norwegian architechture. The stave churches are wholly wooden constructions, and of the 28 churches that still exist, the oldest date back to the 12th century. This makes them the oldest still-existing wooden churches in the Christian world. These churches are also seen as Norway's most important contribution to European architechture.
The growing international interest in contemporary Chinese art is echoed in Norway with Chinese visual artists being presented in recent exhibitions at the Førde International Folk Music Festival as part of the "Du Store Verden" network's 2002 Dialogue on Asia. China is also represented at this year's festival. Three young musicians will partake in the "Talent 2003" project which brings together young, promising talents from Norway and two other countries - this year China and Mali. The Chinese participants, 16 and 17 years old, play the zheng, erhu and yangqin. The festival takes place in July.
Norwegian artists in a wide range of expressions, e.g. sculpture, textile, ceramics, prints, and contemporary media art, continue to meet their Chinese counterparts and viewers at workshops and exchanges in China and Norway. Events of 2003 include the April Ice Sculpture Festival at the Norwegian Glacier Museum, the China International Young Fashion Designers' Contest in Beijing, and the Oslo International Ceramics Symposium in June - just to mention a few.
Young Chinese football players have, together with thousands of other young and eager footballers, taken part in Norway Cup organized by the Norwegian Football Association. Sports bring together enthusiastic athletes at different arenas. Norway has twice hosted the Winter Olympics - in Oslo in 1952 and in Lillehammer in 1994 - and wishes Beijing good luck in preparing for the challenging and stimulating role as host for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Literature
The most ancient literary remains to be found in Norway are runic inscriptions from the Viking age, describing powerful heroic and mythological tales and the sagas of kings and families. Several of these belongs to world litterature.
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is considered the father of modern drama and one of the world's most famous playwrights. For half of a century he devoted his life and energy to the art of drama, and he won international acclaim as the greatest and most influential dramatis of time.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (author of Norway's national anthem), Sigrid Undset and Knut Hamsun were all awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
With growing intensity Norwegian authors of today are gaining attention outside Norway. Good examples are Jostein Gaarder (author of "Sophie's World", one of several of his books that have been translated into Chinese) and Erik Fosnes Hansen ("Psalm at Journey's End").
Musical horizons
Finds of bronze horns dating back to 1500 - 500 BC show that song and music have long traditions in Norway. And the Vikings were both musicians and poets. The Sami joik, the chant of the indigenous Sami people, is another example of ancient musical roots in Norway, but in contrast to the Vikings' musical traditions, the Sami joik is still very much alive.
Every second Norwegian has at some time played in a school brass band or sung in a choir. In Norway it is almost unthinkable to live in a place, regardless of size, which does not have a brass band. The brass band movement is undoubtedly Norway's most comprehensive cultural institution. This uniquely Norwegian phenomenon has a single explanation: the Constitution Day parades on the 17th of May.
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) is the greatest composer Norway has fostered, and many are familiar with his piano concert in A-minor or the music from Peer Gynt. A museum in his honour is located in Bergen on the Western coast of Norway.
In recent years, Norwegian music has undergone a period of explosive development. The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra is a prime example of this. During Mr Mariss Jansons' legendary period as chief conductor, and aided by the establishment of the Norwegian State Academy of Music and a new concert hall, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra played its way into the world élite.
Arne Nordheim whose seventieth anniversary was celebrated in 2001 is the most important Norwegian composer of the post-war era. At an early stage, Nordheim recognised the potential of the new electronic music, and he has created a whole series of works for this medium or for a combination of electronic and traditional instruments.
These days it is quite natural for our most prominent soloists and ensembles to pursue international careers - Jan Garbarek (jazz saxophonist and composer), Truls Mørch (cellist), Leif Ove Andsnes (pianist) and Henning Kraggerud (violinist) to mention a few. Singers such as Solveig Kringlebotn and Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz appear regularly at the world's most prestigious opera houses and the international career of the Vertavo Quartet of four young women attests to the progress of women in many areas of Norwegian society. Norwegian popular music also has its international stars, appreciated not the least by the Chinese public: M2M, who visited Thailand in 2000, Sissel Kyrkjebø and young artist and songwriter Lene Marlin.
The Norwegian Music Information Centre has catalogues of printed music, a guide to music in Norway, biographies of Norwegian composers and articles on the Norwegian musical scene.