The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra portraits mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad in a compilation with music by Kurt Weill, Marcus Paus and Charles Ives. Augestad’s repertoire selection for Portraying Passion takes the musical qualities of modernist, individualistic composers and places it squarely within the context of the twenty-first century.

Paus’s contemporary composition enhances the visionary dissonance of Ives as well as the contrasting melodic shifts of Weill’s orchestrations, yet brings something entirely new to the equation, especially in its startling text and cabaretesque performance.

Parker and Brecht could just as well walk arm-in-arm down the conceptual pathway of understated satire, counterbalanced by the ethereal, transcendental text of Ives’s songs into a complimentary whole. Add Augestad’s unique approach to these works into the equation, and the listener is served with a program certain to make them re-examine any former assumptions, and delight at the outcome.

And therein lies the timeless dimension of this mezzo-soprano’s considerable artistry. The Norwegian mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad is an artist equally at home in concert halls, theatre and cabaret stages or contemporary music festival programmes.