The opening concert on 16 March is a fine example of the scope and style of the festival. Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices will perform a programme of music by Buxtehude – the 300th anniversary of whose death is marked this year– and Arvo Pärt. On 17 March, Peter Phillips presents a concert of vocal music, including works by Josquin Desprez and Nicolas Gombert.

On 18 March, Bjorn Boysen will give an organ recital, playing one of the finest romantic instruments to be found in Oslo. On the same day there will be a performance of a Mass by Buxtehude, featuring the Oslo Cathedral Youth Choir and Kåre Nordstoga, the organist of Oslo Cathedral. On 19 March, a workshop in Gregorian chant will be led by the German specialist Alexander M. Schweitzer, who will also conduct a concert of Gregorian chant from the liturgical cycle of the Passion.

Gregorian chant continues to be spotlighted on 20 March, when Henrik Ødegaard offers a piece of commented work entitled “In manus tuas, domine”. On the same day, the organist Ulf Nilsen and the clarinettist Georg Reiss offer a programme entitled “Two of a Kind”, improvising on tunes ranging, from Bach to the Beatles. One of the most eagerly awaited highlights of the festival is scheduled for 21 March, with the performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor and the premiere of a piece of work commissioned from James MacMillan, which will be performed by the Norwegian Soloists Choir and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under the direction of Grete Pedersen. Music by Knut Nystedt and Norwegian folk songs will be the focus of a concert on 23 March, the same day on which a jazz concert is scheduled with the Bodø Cathedral Choir and the Jan Gunnar Hoff Group.

The festival draws to a close on 24 March with a performance of Handel’s oratorio Solomon given by the London Handel Orchestra and the London Handel Choir under the direction of Laurence Cummings. This year the festival features its own choir, a new professional ensemble specialising in sacred music. Each year the Festival will invite a guest conductor to appear with the choir, which is due to make its debut on 18 March under the direction of Steffen Kammler.