For over 20 years, Bugge Wesseltoft’s classic Christmas album *It’s Snowing on My Piano* has been a guaranteed way to bring in the Christmas spirit. This year, the renowned pianist is back with a new, exclusive Christmas concert at Peer Gynt Hall in Grieghallen, on Sunday, December 7. With over 150,000 copies sold, the Christmas classic *It’s Snowing on My Piano* is a monumental success in Norwegian jazz and music history. Be prepared for beautiful and subdued versions of our most beloved Christmas songs—contemplative, yet full of details for the attentive listener. The perfect remedy to blow away that holiday stress!
If there’s one Norwegian musician with influence far beyond jazz, it must be Bugge Wesseltoft. In addition to being a jazz virtuoso on keyboard instruments and running the record label Jazzland Recordings, he is a pioneer in modernizing electronic jazz music. He has also found time to produce for Jan Eggum and tour with Jan Garbarek, just to name a few of his many projects.
Bugge Wesseltoft shares his inspiration for the album: “*Snowing on my Piano* was created out of a desire for peace and tranquility during Christmas—a break from stress, gift hysteria, and the constant pressure to be overly happy all the time. When I was young, I worked in an emergency ward at a psychiatric hospital, and it was a shock for me to discover that Christmas is also a time for depression, loneliness, and domestic violence. When a German record company asked me to make a solo piano album with Christmas songs, I had my doubts, but I decided to record it on the condition that I could do it in my own way. Being kind to each other and having time for each other is the most important thing we can do at Christmas.”