Miriam Helms Ålien

Fiolin – Violin

” A seasoned artist. Her technical prowess is undeniable. The emotion she puts into every stroke is huge, and her charisma is of the instant goosebump-creating category.” – Altaposten

Miriam Helms Ålien er fra Alta i Nord-Norge og begynte å spille fiolin i 6-årsalderen. Hun er i dag regnet som en av de mest spennende unge artistene i norsk musikkliv og har etter sin solistdebut bare 8 år gammel, vært solist med en rekke orkestre i Norge, Danmark, Tyskland, Israel, Italia, Tsjekkia og Russland; deriblant Kringkastingsorkesteret, Det Norske Kammerorkester, Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Stavanger Symfoniorkester, Arktisk Filharmoni, Oslo Camerata, Israeli Netanya Orchestra, Israel Camerata, Arkhangelsk Chamber Orchestra og Trondheim Symfoniorkester. Miriam er også en aktiv og svært dedikert kammermusiker som opptrer ved festivaler som Verbier Festival & Academy, Beethovenwoche – Bonn, Bad Kissinger Sommer, Risør Kammermusikkfest, OCM Prussia Cove, Festspillene i Bergen, Oslo Kammermusikkfestival, Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival og Kronberg International Festival “Chamber Music Connects the World”. Her har hun jobbet tett med artister som Gidon Kremer, András Schiff, Tabea Zimmermann, Radovan Vlatković, Dora Schwarzberg og Steven Isserlis. Miriam har blitt invitert til å spille i bl.a. Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, KKL Luzern, Louvre-auditoriet (Paris), Tel Aviv Opera og Den Norske Opera, i tillegg til gjentatte opptredener på norsk og internasjonal TV og radio. Siden 2019 er hun initiativtaker og kunstnerisk leder for den internasjonale kammermusikkfestivalen FESTIVALTA – Finnmarks Kammermusikkfestival, som ble gjennomført til strålende kritikker både i februar 2020 og i 2021. I 2012 vant Miriam “Prinsesse Astrid Musikkpris”, en internasjonal konkurranse for solister under 30 år og året etter ble hun nominert som Oslo Filharmoniens kandidat til Den Norske Solistpris. Også i år er hun nominert til Solistprisen. Tidligere har hun vunnet 1.pris og æresprisen i Kocian Internasjonale Fiolinkonkurranse i Tsjekkia, i tillegg til flere ekstrapriser, bl.a. EMCY-prisen og Bärenreiterprisen. Hun vant 1.pris og klassen sin i Ungdommens Musikkmesterskap fire ganger på rad, Sparre Olsen Ærespris i 2009, og ble utnevnt til “Årets Musiker” i 2010. Miriam studerte med Ana Chumachenco og Tabea Zimmermann som en del av “Young Soloist – Further Masters”-programmet ved Kronberg Academy, etter å ha avsluttet både Konzertexamen og en Master i Ny Musikk (med høyeste karakter) ved Musikkhøyskolen i München. Nylig avsluttet hun også en Solo/Konsertmester-Master ved ved Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” i Berlin, etter mange år tidligere å ha gått på Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt med Alf Richard Kraggerud og Stephan Barratt-Due som lærere.

Praised for her “extraordinary musicality” and “maturity way beyond her years”, Miriam Helms Ålien is one of the most exciting young artists to emerge from Norway in recent years. Born in Alta in Northern-Norway, she started playing the violin when she was 6 ½ years old and has, since her solo debut at 8 years old, been a soloist with many of the Norwegian orchestras as well as with orchestras in Germany, Israel, Denmark, Italy, the Czech Republic and Russia. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Schweizer Camerata in KKL Luzern, as well as chamber music performances in the Liszt Academy (Budapest), Berlin Konzerthaus, the Intl. Bergen Festival, and the 2nd edition of FESTIVALTA – the world’s northernmost chamber music festival of its kind, for which Miriam is the artistic director. Recent seasons have included performances with orchestras like the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic, Israeli Netanya Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, Arkhangelsk Chamber Orchestra and the Oslo Camerata. A dedicated and passionate chamber musician, Miriam has been invited to play at numerous festivals, including the Bergen International Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Beethoven-Woche Bonn, Verbier Festival & Academy, Kronberg “Chamber Music Connects the World” Festival and OCM Prussia Cove, as well as the International Chamber Music Festivals in Oslo, Trondheim and Risør. Here she has worked closely with distinguished artists like András Schiff, Gidon Kremer, Tabea Zimmermann, Radovan Vlatković and Steven Isserlis. Since 2020 she is also the founder and artistic director of her own international chamber music festival “FESTIVALTA” in her hometown, likely making it the world’s northern-most festival of its kind. Miriam has been invited to perform in famous halls like Wigmore Hall, KKL Luzern, Louvre Paris, Berlin Konzerthaus, the Norwegian Opera House, and she is also a regular performer on international TV and radio broadcasts. In 2012 Miriam won the prestigious Princess Astrid Music Price. Previously she won first prize at the Kocian Violin Competition in the Czech Republic, the overall winner and recipient of the the Grand Prix Laureate, EMCY Prize and Bärenreiter Prize. She was awarded the Sparre Olsen Prize and Norwegian Music Publisher’s Prize of Honour in 2009, and was named Norway’s “Young Musician of the Year 2010”. She was also chosen by the Oslo Philharmonic as Norway’s representative for the Nordic Soloist Prize. Miriam recently graduated from the Kronberg Academy where she studied with Prof. Ana Chumachenco and Tabea Zimmermann. Previously she studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, the HfM “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin and at the Barratt Due Institute for Music in Oslo. Former teachers include Ulf Wallin, Stephan Barratt-Due, Alf Richard and Henning Kraggerud. Further inspiration has come from masterclasses with artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Ida Haendel, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Christoph Eschenbach, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Miriam Fried and Mauricio Fuks.

Miriam Helms Ålien

Fiolin – Violin

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