Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

At the opening of HM Queen Sonja’s International Music Competition 2001 it seems appropriate to focus on the importance of artists for the cultural community of the future.

Here in Norway, as in other countries, we are proud of our rich and deeply-rooted cultural traditions. But the establishment of institutions in the artistic and cultural sphere is a relatively recent development. The Norwegian Opera, for instance, is only forty years old. During the 1960s and 70s we established institutions that were devoted to promoting cultural activities in outlying districts. This was particularly vital in a country like Norway, where the geographical distance between Oslo and Hammerfest, the world’s most northernmost town, is as great as the distance between Oslo and Milan in Italy.

Sometimes, though, it can be liberating not to be too firmly bound to long-standing traditions: we can face the future without being burdened by the past, and it is easier for us to adapt our cultural life to contemporary trends. We are currently planning a major new project, an opera house that is expected to open in 2008. In parallel with the plans for this opera house, which will be situated directly on the shoreline in downtown Oslo, we are witnessing a new interest in opera throughout the country.

As a result, a number of opera groups have been established in outlying districts. In the midst of today’s information society, the artistic experience is becoming increasingly important to the general public. Who knows – maybe the information society is in the process of becoming a society of experiences.

Now a word to the participants in the competition: it is you who will carry artistic standards and modes of expression forward into the future.

You will give us the artistic experiences we seek. And you are giving so generously of yourselves in order to do so. I have great admiration and respect for your choice of career, and I am fully aware that the path ahead of you may be a stony one.

The main goal of this competition is to help you in your future careers. All forms of artistic endeavour need arenas in which they can be presented. HM Queen Sonja’s International Music Competition is one such arena. I hope that your stay in Oslo will be profitable for you professionally and will inspire you in your future work. I also hope that the competition will serve to establish musical links between Norwegian musicians and you, the stars of the future.

I hereby declare HM Queen Sonja’s International Music Competition 2001 opened.