The view from WAY over here -- in Norway this week

The View from Here staff and household has decamped to the annual Risør Chamber Music Festival in a little fishing/sailing village on the southeast coast of Norway, a few hours southwest of Oslo.

Directed by pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (at left with mackerel) and violist Lars Anders Tomter, Risør has been our "Midsummer" home for the last nine years.

Not sure how intricate or colorful our posts will be from here, but in addition to Andsnes and Tomter, artists we're excited about seeing and hearing here include Christian Tetzlaff, Marc-André Hamelin, Nikolai Luganksy, Fredrik Ullén, Håkan Hardenberger, the Orion Quartet, and Thomas Quasthoff.  Featured composers this year range from Haydn to Bartok to Ligeti, Ives, Antheil, Varèse, and a pile of Russians.

We eat well, soak up the long daylight (people were painting their houses as late as 10 p.m. last night), and enjoy seeing old friends and making new ones.