Piano music meets puppetry
Music can convey stories in a way that words alone cannot
We are two artists from different creative disciplines. In our performances, we combine classical piano music with theater, storytelling, and puppetry. Our aspiration is to make classical music more enchanting and accessible to children.
Small troll
Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a large, dark forest.
With Edvard Grieg’s lyrical pieces for piano, we tell a fairy tale about a little troll, brought to life as a puppet, who ventures out into the night alone to visit his grandmother.
On his way, the troll meets a butterfly and a bird, and he sees the elves dancing by the brook. Eventually, the sun begins to rise, and the troll must hurry to avoid being turned into stone. With the help of the bird, he safely reaches his grandmother's cave.
Using a fairy tale framework and a puppet as the main character allows us to capture the children’s attention. The storytelling and music are communicating with each other - blending the elements of a piano concert, narrative theater, and puppetry into a single performance geared for young audiences.
Mozart as a child
Our wish is for children to become familiar with classical music at an early age. "Mozart as a Child" is well-suited for this purpose, as through his story, we delve into a world of childhood.
Our audience, the children, get to hear the story of another child their age, and since this child is a musician and composer, classical music naturally becomes an integral part of the story—well incorporated into the narrative and presented within understandable contexts.
Throughout the performance, the children are involved in various activities, such as singing and clapping in different ways.
We aim to show that classical music can also be fun and exciting, and that it can be a powerful way to convey emotions.
The artists
Margrit Honecker
Pianist
Margrit Honecker took her first piano lessons at the age of 6. Later she earned her degree in music from the Music Conservatory in Lubeck, Germany, in 1999 and afterwards,
she continued her studies with Prof. Grigory Gruzman, Pascal Devoyon (France), and Benedetto Lupo (Italy).
She has played many concerts and solo recitals across Europe and has performed as a soloist with
orchestras, playing such repertoire as Schumann´s Concerto, Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto,
Mozart’s Piano Concertos, and Saint-Saëns’ 2nd Concerto.
Margrit is also a trained music educator with broad and extensive experience with children and music for all age groups.
In 2018 and 2019, she received a stipend from the Norwegian organisation, FFUK to develop and perform concerts for young audiences.
In addition to performing and developing music programs for children, she has also been involved as a repetiteur in outreach projects for The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet .
Hakkon Strøm
Puppeteer
Has received his formal education from Mountview Theatre School in London
As a puppeteer, he has performed as The Dream Prince in "Pulverheksa" for Riksteatret and Pivi in the television-show «Fantorangens Verden.», for NRK.
He has been a permanent member of the performing Teater Joker since 2007, participating in productions such as «Brothers»,
«A Hundred Rooms», «Trillefolket», «Baron von Munchhausen's Truths», «Tutomaten», «Peer on a Stool», «The Scavenger Hunt»,
«Brune» and «Mulegutten». In many of these performances, he has performed as a puppeteer.
HAAKON is the founder of Oslo Children's & Youth Theatre, where he has served in the capacity of both executive and artistic director.
In addition to his work as an actor and puppeteer, Haakon frequently provides audiobook narration for both fiction and non-fiction literature.