The annual Bergen International Festival kicked off on Wednesday, showcasing diverse programming ranging from the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of national composer Edward Grieg’s (1843 –1907) Holberg Suite (1884) to The Great Yes, The Great No, a musical performance with overt political messaging.
The festival was gracefully inaugurated by Queen Sonia who was received by Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffer, Bergen Mayor Marit Warncke, along with other local dignitaries. In a very typical Norwegian setting, a local children’s brass band performed The King’s Song followed by several catchy tunes while thousands of spectators, including tourists, had gathered to witness the Queen’s arrival and subsequent procession to her private lodge – centrally located in a public square – from where she watched the concert. The atmosphere was celebratory, dignified, and calm.
The festival, launched in 1953, stands out as Norway’s preeminent classical music event. It is spearheaded by Artistic Director and CEO Lars Petter Hagen. The opening concert was conducted by Grete Pedersen, the veteran Artistic Director of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir.
In a typical Norwegian fashion, Queen Sonia was greeted by a children’s brash band. Photo credit: Thor Brødreskift.
‘The Great Yes, The Great No’
Later in the evening, the festival’s first performance featured The Great Yes, The Great No, a piece that was billed as “part theatre and part chamber opera.” In reality, it was neither but rather musical theater whose storyline was challenging to follow partially because of the ever changing visual distractions on stage. On the upside, the 90-minutes performance, which took place in the fully packed Grieg Hall, was peppered with catchy and beautiful songs performed by a cast of South African singers. The production was spearheaded by William Kentridge, the 2025 Festival’s artist-in-residence.
The Great Yes, The Great No, was also overtly political – featuring a storyline that combines race, gender, colonialism, World War II, South Africa, and other leftist themes – that audiences in the United States and Europe have grown accustomed to. Social criticism plays, of course, an important role throughout theater history. Yet, this play felt somehow outdated if not outright reminiscent of the bygone era of the early 2020s where race and gender – and how the two are supposedly interconnected – evolved into semi-dominant themes within America’s often toxic public discourse during the immediate aftermath of the George Floyd murder. The play also makes a clear reference “to putting the white man in his place.” Yet, the public has since moved past its societal panic over alleged racism – in the U.S., Norway, and elsewhere – to a discourse centering on geopolitical uncertainty fueled by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Capturing this changing dynamic, both Jaffer – during the opening ceremony – and Hagen at a reception following the theater performance – delivered separate remarks touching on themes centering on geopolitical uncertainty, the defense of democracy, and the need for finding common ground within the space of arts and culture.
Herborg-Kråkevik – who did not perform during the opening ceremony – straddles traditional with contemporary Norwegian folk music. Photo credit: Thor Brødreskift.
The Great Yes, The Great No, meanwhile, was also peppered with numerous historical references, including to the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) and other themes, which the audience seemed not to understand.
The story, which takes places on a passenger ship departing Marseille, France, in 1941 for the Caribbean island of Martinique features “renowned artists and intellectuals fleeing the Vichy regime in France, along with Captain Charon, the ferryman of the underworld,” the playbill states. The combination of the performance alternating between English, French, isiSwati, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Setswana, and Xitsonga, the hard-to-follow storyline and the ever-changing staging, leaves a clear – yet unmistakable impression – of pseudo intellectualism and amateurish theater production. Yet, the audience clearly enjoyed the production as the cast ultimately received a standing ovation, although it appeared somewhat reluctant.
