Hi Again!

Hello Friends!

Done with a fantastic tour in Norway. What a beautiful country we have!

Thanks to all of you who joined me on this tour! Thanks for coming to my conserts and shearing the joy of music with me!

I just love singing these songs from my new album! And the other songs on the consert. Great evening every time and I can´t wait till our Sweden and Denish tour! That will be wonderful!

Now I am doing some signings for the album at different places around Oslo for the next 4 days. Tomorrow evening I will start at Strømmen and Jessheim. It is nice to meet the audience like this, but it can also be a bit stressful as time is running fast and I can´t talk to everybody as much as I wanted. But people are so nice and positive and I really enjoy meeting everybody!

Now I will listen to some Holiday music and relax and enjoy before working again!

Take care and enjoy!

;-)

Sissel

Take care and enjoy the wonderful Holiday Season!

Hello again!

Sitting here in my kitchen rehearsing the song for my tour. Tomorrow I will have the first rehearsal with the band. I am really looking forward to sing with these great musicians again!

There are three new in the band from last tour. Kjetil Stensnes, Børge Pettersen and Unni Wilhelmsen. Gifted guitarplayers and Unni has a great voice as well. She has her own solo career and has just finished her tour i Norway. Check her out on google and you tube! Sending you a pic from our rehearsal some day....

Take care ! ;-)

Sissel

Hello dear friends,

busy time! Hope you are all well. It is so nice to hear from you all. Tomorrow I will do some filming for my new album. That will be fun! It is so wonderful to see that everything is turning out so well.

The picture you see is from Nashville where it all started. Nashville art! The single "velkommen hjem" , (Welcome home) is from our visit to this great music city that is so much alive!

As I have travelled around these last days on promo in Sweden and Norway there are some really good moments where you meet old close friends. As I met Peter Jöback. A great singer from Sweden. (His live album comes out on the 19th of November,as mine comes out on the 12th of November) We always have a great time together and he always makes me smile! That really made my day! Good friends are priceless gifts !

So Take care everybody!

Enjoy Life and your friends!

;-) S

Bergen!

Hi Friends!

A brief note here from my hometown Bergen. I am doing press here today for my upcoming tour. I will have the first concert on the tour here on Nov 13th. Beautiful sun here today but mostly I will be indoor for interviews. But it is so nice to be home again. It is wonderful!

Take care!

;-)

Sissel

Autumn, Fall is arriving!

The Autumn has arrived! ;-)
Today was the first morning with this fresh cold wind. A bit chilly, but nice! In my garden some of the trees have started their colouring and that also means that my album is close to finnish and my tour will soon be up... The first concert is on the 13th of November and then the album is out on the 15th. I am very much lookning forward to all the concerts and to see this beautiful country of Norway from the South to the North and meet my audience again! I guess at the end we will have snow and not much daylight.... Maybe we will get to see the Northern Lights?
Have a wonderful autumn, fall! Get out in the fresh cold air and enjoy!
Take care!

;-)

Sissel

Hi friends - I am alive!

Dear Friends!

Long time....no blog! Well, time passes fast when there is a lot to do.
Still some summer is left....took this picture yesterday in a park nearby.
I have been in studio and travelled a lot. Visitied new places I have never been before! - enjoyed and still enjoy life with my family and friends.

I had a terrible cold this spring and luckily I only had to cancel my studiotime and move it to august as I had to be very careful with singing and using my voice. I had good people helping me along the way....
I caught the cold while I was in China on tour with the Trondheim Soloists. I had been looking forward to that tour for such a long time. When we came to Beijing the wonderful professor Ms Han at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing helped me so I managed to sing a little. I hope I will have the chance to come back one day and do a full concert! What a wonderful audience and I met some very gifted singers!

We are still working in studio and we all hope that we will be done in time for release this winter! Exciting! I am very lucky to have so many talented and gifted people around me and with me.
Sending you some studio pictures later and here are some from my tour in China...Well, from a hotel room, and inside a car as I had this terrible cold! ;-( My view from one of my hotel rooms.

My manager in a Chinese cab ;-)

)

Have a wonderful life everybody and take care!

;-)

Sissel

What a year 2009!

Dear friends,

Thanks for your notes and messages on my blog!

My writing on this blog has been very poor this year. There has been so much going on. So much good going on!

The new project with Odd Nordstoga, ''Strålande Jul'' took some time and travel, as did the concerts. When I wrote my last blog from the studio sessions, it was still a well kept secret that Odd and I were working together. He is a very well known and beloved artist in Norway. So I could not mention him then...

This Christmas album has been a huge success, and for the first time I have been touring away from home for more than 14 days. But then again my family could visit me on tour, and that was nice. Very nice!

Our Christmas tour in Norway and Sweden was a real treat! Great people to work with and I have got new friends that I will love to work with again and meet off stage! Great music and audience every evening!

In Sweden, 3 Swedish acts joined us (the band, Trondheim Soloists, Odd and myself):

The Real Group, a wonderful and very talented vocal group, Orsa Spelmenn, folk band that plays and make everyone smile, and Christer Henriksson, a wonderful actor with a great presence and he had the best sermon about the Gospel I have heard in a long time!

Odd is such a gifted and talented musician and composer. And a wonderful person! From the first time I heard him I just new that our voices would work well together and I love his musical universe! We met for the first time in his kitchen lastJanuary. And the project has been like a dance on roses from the start till the end. A meant to be! Now we will continue on our own paths. If our pathways will ever cross again? - I don't know....

The time has come to look at a new year.

I have a plan to start recording a new album when I have the songs that I like! So I expect summer will be my studio time. And I will travel to a place I have never been before!

For the rest of this year I will just enjoy my good friends and get good energy for a great start on a great new year! This year has been filled with so much to thank for!

I start singing concerts in the first week of 2010. Then I will travel to the Northern Part of Norway, above the polar circle, and I am looking forward so much to these concerts and to spending some time in this beautiful part of Norway!

To everyone of you:

Have a wonderful and sparkling New Year!

God bless,

;-)

Sissel

studio session

Dear friends,                  

My stay in Bergen was very nice! Wonderful, lovely, funny and many great moments to remember! Bryn was as always great to work with and what an amazing entertainer and singer! And a thrill to work in my own hometown with the great Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra!

Right now I'm working in studio on my new project. We have a string session tonight. Lovely! I

 feel so uplifted by these beautiful arrangements and playing by all the musicians that

 contribute and make this music live. And of course we have a lot of fun..... Daniel is playing the  Hardanger fiddle with the Trondheim Soloists and Per my pianist and I studying the music.

I can't wait for you all to hear this! 

Take care and have fun!             

;-) 

Sissel

   

Bergen Music Festival

Hello dear friends, 

just want to share with you the view from my room.......   

Today we , Bryn , the conductor Gareth and myself will have a short piano rehearsal before the big day tomorrow. Nice to have a relaxing day today. 

The sun is shining, and the forecast for tomorrow is still nice.  The park will be such a wonderful venue for this classical/cross over concert! For me it is such a treat to sing with Bryn and work with so wonderful and gifted people! And I am so much looking forward to hear the young Finnish pianist Joho Pojonen, playing Grieg's Piano Concerto. 

This is just : Wonderful! Fantastic! 

I must have the best job in the world! 

......Well, for me anyway..

Take care!

;-)

Sissel 

Hello dear friends, 

Hope you are all well! Thanks for all messages! 

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to write to you again. Been very busy! 

Now I am her in my own beloved hometown, Bergen! 

The most amazing sunny weather! This town is so beautiful!

Yesterday we had our first concert as the trio of Trygve on the piano, Geir on guitars and myself on vocal. Wow! That was so fun and a really enjoyable evening for us! The picture is from the rehearsal. 

What a special place to sing and perform. 

I am so much looking forward to this evenings concert. Leaving in half an hour. 

Yesterday before the concert Trygve and I got a special treat: Lizzie , who lives in Edvard Griegs home, took us up at the roof of the house. What a view! It is said that Grieg had an herb and vegetable garden up there..... Hm..

I will write some more later... now I have to rush and make myself ready for take off!

Take care!

;-)

Sissel

Hello again friends!

Hope your life is good!

I've been in Trondheim and had a great session with my pianist Trygve for the 2 Troldhaugen concerts in my hometown Bergen, at the end of May. Together with my guitarist Geir, we will be playing concerts in Edvard Grieg's home, more precisely, in his living room! A very intimate and acoustic setting with only the three of us and about 80 people in the audience.

I'm sending you a picture from our working session. We really are looking forward to these concerts and hope to see you!

Take care!

;-)

Sissel

Correction for Mary !!

Hi Mary,

I read your message, and was happy to hear from you. But! I became a bit alarmed when you wrote that you are planning to buy tickets for a show that is not planned! I AM NOT SINGING IN TIVOLI ON THE 30TH OF OCTOBER!

;-)

Sissel

Hello dear friends! 

Thank you for all your nice words and messages!

Hope you all are fine and at good health! 

How time just fly!

I have been busy with starting up some new projects. Very exciting! Planning upcoming concerts and tours for spring , summer and winter and a new album project.  In between,  I have been so lucky to get the chance to enjoy the beauty of our wonderful nature in Norway. Well, I guess no surprise that I love to be out in the snow and go skiing! 

Right now there is so much snow and winter in Norway. In Oslo you have only 10-15 min from downtown to the most fantastic skiing area! You can go for miles! 

Sending you a picture from my latest trip up in the mountains of Hardangervidden a few weeks ago.... 

 

Take care and enjoy life! 

;-)

Sissel

Hello dear friends! 

A brand new year! 2009!

I started my first days of the new year with some of my dearest friends. I have made myself some new goals for the new year. Not long ago I read Dalai Lama's words for last year, and one of them was:  'Once a year, go some place that you have never been before'.  I will do that!

For the time my prays and thoughts go to the children and their families who are suffering from the consequences of the war in the Middle East. I have a friend who is there working, and to hear him telling me about the fear that he sees in the eyes of the children and the people who live there , makes it even stronger to watch the news. 'The bombs kill children too' a little girl's poster said. I do hope and pray that the war and the bombing will end soon and they start talking instead! 

Hope you are filled with good thoughts and expectations and dreams for the new year!  

Happy new year! 

- from Norway and me.

;-)

Sissel

Seasonal greetings

Dear friends!

Hope you all have enjoyed the Seasonal holiday and are getting ready for the great evening of New Year! 

I have had a wonderful time with my family and friends up in the mountains. This was not just dreaming of a white Christmas! After the service in the church Christmas Eve , we all went for a ride in open horse sleds. The stars were sparkling , crystal clear air and the sound of the jingle bells and the light from the torches made us feel like we were in a fairy-tale! A Christmas we all will remember! 

 I am so grateful for all that I have experienced and for all that has been given to me in the year that has passed. All the wonderful people that I have met, the great moments I have shared with my family and friends , safe travelling and moments of uplifting spirits and true joy! I really feel blessed!

Now I feel a bobbling joy inside of me by  the thought of the whole new year that is lying ahead of us. A year with new opportunities  filled with new experiences and challenges! They're just there waiting for us to see them and use them. 

The picture is the sunrise Christmas morning.

I wish you all a Happy and prosperous  New Year! 

Every day is a gift! 

May God bless you all and your families! 

;-)

Sissel

Hello dear friends!

We are getting closer to our last concert here in Sweden. Tonight the concert here in Västerås went very well.  Tomorrow we will be in Karlstad.

 The tour has been fantastic! So much joy, great venues, wonderful audiences and lovely music to sing and play. I really love working with the talented and gifted musicians in my band! ! They are the best! 

We had a day off yesterday , and I visited some friends in Stockholm. We were sitting there in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea and just enjoy this seldom moment of being together again while it was snowing outside. Perfect! And wonderful! I think of  my good friends as they are part of my family , and isn't it wonderful how big family you can have? You will never be alone!  

I hope you will have time to see some of your good friends in the rush before the seasonal holiday, or maybe in the holidays? What a blessing friends are!

The picture is taken today in beautiful Uppsala. Wet snow, lights and fresh air! And a very busy river!

Enjoy and take care everybody! 

;-)

Sissel  

On tour in Sweden

Hello dear friends!

Hope you all are well and enjoying this time of year! 

I am now on tour in Sweden. It is going very well and I am really enjoying each and every concert. We had a day off today , and that was nice. Went to church here in Jönköping, in the Sofia kyrkan. What a beautiful church and service. It is good to sit there and to receive the gospel. Then just relax and enjoy the sunday. A perfect day off!

I post you some pictures  from our concert in Gothenburg and the team before we enter the stage. It is so great to work with these people! So much fun and great music! 

Take care and have a wonderful advent! 

;-)

Sissel

Hello again Winter!

Dear friends, 

I must say that I really enjoy being on the road with my good friends, my musical family. 

- But the best part is always coming home! Right now I am preparing for the Christmas tour in Sweden which starts on the 3. of December. I love the holiday season! It is not hard to get in the mood, as it is snowing outside my window. Wonderful!

In this weekend I visited some friends up in the mountains and we had i great time skiing.

 What a treat! This cold , fresh air! I don't look at myself as any good skier! But I have great fun , and that is the most important thing; To have fun and enjoy!

Well, I have to head back to my Christmas songs. On Sunday I will be singing in the Norwegian Seaman's Church in Copenhagen. They are celebrating their 50th year anniversary for the

 King Haakons church. It is an honor to sing on this special day.

Hope you all are fine and remember to enjoy! 

;-)

Sissel

Tour in Denmark

Hello dear friends, 

the tour here in Denmark has been wonderful! Every concert has been such a great experience for all of us on the stage. The audiences has really showed us their appreciation of our music. 

The new songs has all been very well received. So a big smile! ;-)

The whole tour started a bit funny. On my way to Oslo for the last rehearsal, I traveled from Copenhagen in beautiful mild autumn weather. Then we couldn't take off  cause the airport in Oslo was closed due to....: SNOW! A bit strange as the weather was so mild in Denmark , it is only 50

 min flight! Wow it was so beautiful to arrive into this white winterland! I had totally forgotten how it feels with the snow and cold fresh air! Acctually I found it as the best start for the tour! But we haven't seen any snow after that here i Denmark. Here it is still autumn with wind, sunshine, rain and leaves in beautiful warm colors.  

Sending you 2 pic. The gang ready for tour at the rehearsal in Oslo. And the two, Sidsel and Sissel, for a walk in beautiful sunshine in Århus.  

Take care! 

;-) Sissel

Preparing my tour for Denmark

Hello friends!

Hope life is good to you all!

I am now in the middle of preparing my tour for Denmark. Rehearsals next week with my band, and that is very exciting. I hope we will get the chance to play some new songs that we have been working on. The concerts is inspired by the beautiful light we have during our four seasons here in the North. And outside now there is this intense light of autumn! Ah!

I am also working on a program for purchase.( A little extra memory from the concert). I will have pictures and a story from the year that is soon over. A year of many great experiences! This picture is from this summer! Sidsel(harp), Åshild (violin) and myself, and one of the boys sneaking in in the background..... It was I recall, very fresh air! We just had to go out in the snow! A couple of hours before we had been by the fjord in light summer clothes.

But now it is autumn and I do love this crispy air and bright sun, and the storms and rain showers! As long as there is a nice mix of them!

I do hope that you all will have some time to enjoy this beautiful time of year. 

Take care!

;-)

Sissel