History

Toppenkurset International Summer Academy and Festival embraces an international music festival with 15 live events and an international summer music school for approx. 100 participants. The festival is Northern Norway’s largest event of its kind and it has a central role in the dissemination of our cultural heritage to children and youth from 8 to 25 years in our region. The Summer festival has a strong local presence. Vefsn Young Strings have been responsible organizer since 2001 and the association has taken the challenge to develop the course to a major summer music festival in Nordland. The Norwegian Culture Council, Barents secretariat, Nordland County Council, The Nordic Council and the local business community supports the summer music festival with sponsorship.

International dimension

Music is an international language. Our Summer festival has an international dimension and the participants gain knowledge about each others culture and traditions of the classical music as a gateway. Through internationalization the youth get the opportunity to build unique friendships across borders. Cooperation with international artists also provide insight into different educational traditions, methodologies and requirements. Intense cooperation between participants, practitioners and educators unite multiple generations of musicians.

Toppen International Summer Music Festival is the Norwegian arena for Rainbow Strings, a collaboration between young musicians from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Serbia and Norway, where folk music is a key element.