G U N I L L A SÜSSMANN The Colors of Longing I
first saw her perform in a haunted 1 2 th C entury convent on the westcoast of N orway. S he smiled at the audience and took a brief applause before sitting down in front of the grand piano.
T hen she was gone . G one was the performer , whose mastery of her instrument and the music of the old masters is rivalled only by few. S he had become a conduit for an unearthly resonance , a music so beautiful it cut deep into my soul . E arly on she knew she had tapped into something that was almost larger than life – to her , she told
me , a “ holy place ” . last year she released her debut solo C D, Tocka , featuring sonatas of rachmaninov and scriabin. she kindly took time off from her busy schedule to answer some of our questions A N D S H E G I V E S U S S O M E U N I Q U E I N S I G H T S I N TO T H E M I N D A N D WO R K O F A M A S T E R . . .
f SOLAR ANGELS: Gunilla, how are you doing? You have had a very busy year! Please let us know what you’ve been up to ... GUNILLA: Hi there... I´m very fine, having a pretty calm start of this season, which is a welcome and nice change after being fairly busy
last year. 2007 was a hectic yet very exciting year for me. It was the 100th anniversary of norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, which meant a lot of concerts within this frame, among other places in China. This year also included my first trip to Taiwan, where I for the first time in my life suffered from real insomnia. It´s hard
to pick highlights from the last year, because every event has its own value or meaning. The spring and summer was filled with concerts and festivals in Norway, Germany, France and the UK, and a huge challenge this year was the intense variety of repertoire.
