Our Band

When we formed our band we had three issues that were important for us –

First of all, we were looking for players with a broad musical interest and a wide experience. We wanted to develop our own style of music and we needed a band that could be part of that development. We needed players with a musical confidence, strong enough to see the music from a Secret Garden perspective and see their role as part of a musical concept.

Secondly, we wanted players who could be part of a long-time musical commitment. Around the time we started, I worked with a lot of the most sought-after players in Norway. In a way it could have been tempting to choose from these top players, but I was hesitant going down that road. I discussed this with Fionnuala, and we agreed that working with a band of popular session players, and players involved in many other popular projects, would only create difficulties for our selves at some point. We wanted to form a band where Secret Garden would be the main priority; musicians who could would regard Secret Garden as an important career opportunity.

Third, and not the least important point: we wanted a group of players that could blend socially, be friends on tour on- and off-stage, and work and travel together without any big egos or friction. When you work with top players, musically and technically, it’s not always easy to find your position inside the group of talented people. There can be a lot of individual concerns upsetting a perfect musical and social balance, especially when all the players are artists in their own right. To have a band without conflicting interests was so important.

We were blessed to find our band members very soon; they fell into place in a very natural way.

Rhtyhm Section

Rolf Kristensen

Rolf Kristensen

The most consistent part of the group is our rhythm section. Our guitar player Rolf Kristensen has been there since the very first concert in 1995. Apart from a temporary teaching commitment as an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, he has played every concert with us. In fact, when he was gone for 6 months, we chose to tour without replacing him. It would be too complicated to sub for him. When he is not touring with Secret Garden, he’s an Associate Professor at the University of Agder (UIA) in Kristiansand, teaching guitar.

He’s a very versatile player with jazz and contemporary music as his forte. He can also do a great classical acoustic guitar arrangement, but he is more confident on stage when he can strap up his Fender Stratocaster and step on his pedal rack.

It took a few years before he let out his artistic talent. In the beginning, he was very happy taking a back position on stage, almost a little shy. Later, he blossomed and became more confident as an artist, taking a front position whenever it’s needed.

In a funny way, he combines these practical and organized characteristics with an astonishing absent-mindedness. In fact, we always joke when we do our count to check if everybody’s onboard the bus: “Is Roofy here?” If the answer is ‘yes’, we know that everybody else is too.

The logistics of a tour, practical details and information can totally pass him by, but on the stage he’s solid as a rock.

Per Elias Drabløs

Our bass player is Per Elias Drabløs. We first met him when he was the leader of an event band Fionnuala and I was working with in Kristiansand. His genuine musicality and friendly personality instantly appealed to us. He wasn’t only a bass player – he was a real musician. He even looked like a real musician with his waist-long hair. He’s an exuberant musician: an arranger and bandleader in his own right, and often musical director in musical theatre and plays in Kristiansand. All these qualities combined with his long-term relationship with Secret Garden makes him the perfect assistant musical director of the band. Many times he has lead the rehearsals and sound checks when I’ve been prevented from being there, and many times he’s assisted me writing orchestral scores and arrangements. In the many years of concerts we’ve done, he’s been absent only once. When his wife celebrated her 40th birthday he had to throw in the towel. Funny enough, it was not an easy decision for him, but we all supported him in his choice.

Per Elias also works at the University of Agder (UiA) in Kristiansand as an associate professor, and possesses a Ph.D. in Popular Musicology. He has also written a book, The Quest for the Melodic Electric Bass– published by Ashgate

Our bass player is a very versatile musician. When we need him to, he can play the accordion or the odd keyboard in concerts as well as the bass. Socially, he’s quiet, soft-spoken and confident. He’s the one in the band everybody confides in. He has this aura of trust and empathy and is everybody’s loyal friend. He’s a typical perfectionist. He actually missed a note once – I think it was during ‘Nocturne’ – and years later, he still can’t get over it.

Bjørn Ole Rasch

Bjørn Ole Rasch is a keyboard expert, and on the stage he’s a pure firework with his energy and his keyboard artistry. We decided very quickly that we needed two keyboards on stage. I wanted to concentrate only on the piano to allow myself to also be an artist on stage. The verbal introductions and the musical responsibility for the band were absorbing all energy, so with a big keyboard set-up on top of everything I felt it was too much for me.

Bjørn Ole stacks up keyboards and samplers and is in charge of the electronic department. Every time there is an ambient intro or some mysterious sounds, it comes from Bjørn Ole’s universe of electronic instruments. On stage he’s a flamboyant artist – you can always see what he’s doing. He’s a master of visualizing every sound and movement like a true keyboard artist, formed and educated by the great rock bands and keyboard icons of the ‘70s. You will guess just by looking at him with his long rock’n’roll hair and his circular ‘John Lennon-glasses’. He’s definitely the centre of energy in the band, both on stage and socially.

Bjørn Ole is a professor of popular music at the University of Agder in Kristiansand; he’s actually the first appointed professor of popular music in Norway. I don’t know if it is his profound knowledge of rock history or if it’s his competitiveness that always makes his the natural quizmaster on all the tours. The combined qualities often make him the one to beat.

Besides Secret Garden, Bjørn Ole runs his own musical projects like the folk music group Bukkene Bruse and also his musical project with his wife, the renowned artist Annbjørg Lien. Together they’ve been pioneers in modern traditional music creating a string of acclaimed recordings.

With Bjørn Ole’s busy schedule we’ve had to substitute him for a number of tours. The list of temporary keyboard players involved with the band is long, but the player that we’ve used as a regular sub is Trond Lien.

Trond Lien

For some periods in the most hectic years he was a household name in the band, touring Europe, Asia and the US with us. He’s a very experienced player: originally a gospel pianist, he later became a musical bandleader at NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company. Besides being a great keyboard player, he’s always smiling, on- and off-stage. People spreading positive energy are always important to any group. Trond has been our energizer with all his funny stories and laughs.

Ottar Nesje

Ottar Nesje joined the band in 1996 at the Giske concert and has been a member of the family ever since. The first couple of years he was alternating with Joakim Nordin, our original drummer who had to leave Secret Garden when he was offered a principal percussion position in the Norwegian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra. Our increasing travelling schedule was too busy to combine with the regular orchestra job, so Ottar took over. I’d worked with him before and I knew he would fit right in with us. He was a great drummer, and he was also doing a lot of ethnic projects and percussive arrangements, which suited us perfectly. On our three first albums there are actually almost no tracks with normal drum kit; only ethnic drums, bodhráns, tenor drums, grand casa, djembe and Latin percussion. So Ottar’s direction as a drummer and percussionist was perfect for us. I guess the drums in our music are more involved in the overall arrangement compared to rhythm-driven pop music. Sometimes it could be the little cymbal swell, creating an orchestral colour. Sometimes it could be tribal drums in a Celtic up-tempo, and sometimes even a straight drum groove. Ottar has this versatility that we appreciate so much.

Besides being a musician, having worked with a wide range of Norwegian artists in his career, he is also a full time teacher. Parts of his life, he has been devoted to international social projects and cultural exchange work, taking him to Namibia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Palestine. Ottar never runs out of a good story, and maybe his cultural background is reflected in his ethnic approach in his drum playing.

Ottar is the master of understatements with his quirky sense of humour. He can drop a comment without warning and instantly have everybody on the floor laughing. He can see the funny side in any situation and make a twisted joke on the spot. He is the avid tourist among us. As soon as there are a few available hours, he wanders off on his own with his rucksack with maps and tourist guidebooks.

Karl Oluf Wennerberg

Karl Oluf Wennerberg is our second regular drummer. He joined us in 1998 at the Washington DC concert and has since been a regular part of the group, sharing the touring with Ottar. When we had our work break in 2006-2007, Karl Oluf joined A-ha as part of their touring band. Later, when A-ha decided to call it the day, he came back to us as a co-drummer again.

On our PBS live concert from Lillehammer in 1999 we used both of them on stage, with Karl Oluf on regular drums and Ottar on percussion. It was a great set-up, filling the back of the stage with truckloads of equipment. It sounded and looked amazing. It was a luxury we normally can’t afford to bring on the road with us, but it’s great to do this at special occasions.

Karl Oluf is the forth member of the band teaching at the University of Agder in Kristiansand as an associate professor. We first met him in connection with a TV event where he was part of the house band. His amazing drum technique and his passion for music immediately impressed us. He’s a real groove machine, but he’s also a player with a big heart and a great musical sensitivity.

Karl Oluf is the temperamental type, which is a good thing for us, as we’re mostly a quiet group of people working and travelling together. You can see it when he performs – he is all emotion. It’s like he’s drifting away to a spiritual place deep inside of himself.

His regular seat in a bus or in a tour van is always in the front. He suffers from chronic carsickness, so he is our road watcher. He always keeps the driver company.

There is one event in which no one in the band can compete with him. He’s got the official Secret Garden record in ski jumping with 49.5 meters standing.

You can sometimes see this when he comes down on the stage to take his applause after the show; he ski-jumps off his podium and makes a perfect ‘Telemark’ landing – his secret trademark.

Secret Garden’s music isn’t primarily drum based as in pop music. It’s rather melody driven, and in parts of the concert the drums are very subtle and sometimes even tacit. But having a great drummer on stage means everything. Both of our drummers can raise the performance level and energy for all of us. They are brilliant drummers and simply great musicians.

The stability of the rhythm section for almost two decades is unique. They’ve all taken a special interest in Secret Garden and made it their own project. The fact that all our players have a regular job with a great deal of flexibility (most of them teaching at the University in Kristiansand) has also been to our advantage.

Singers

Tracey Campbell

Tracey Campbell

Tracey was the original singer, along with Brian Kennedy, on our recording of ‘You Raise Me Up’ in 2001. After we brought her back with us, she’s been part of our regular touring group. It was great to have her onboard for the promotion of ‘You Raise Me Up’, but her great talent didn’t really come to fruition before we gave her a bigger role in the concerts by singing songs from Inside I’m Singing in 2007. We discovered Tracey’s divine talent when she stepped down from the bleachers of the London Gospel Community Choir and auditioned for the female verse of ‘You Raise Me Up’. We’d never imagined that our music, paired with a gospel singer, would work so well. When we heard Tracey, we just cried. She was perfect for the song and she made it into something more – something magical we could never plan for or expect.

Whatever song she performs with us she’s turning into a personal statement. She has this God-given talent that she’s doesn’t sing a song; the song sings her. Whether it’s ‘Simply You’, ‘The Things You Are To Me’, ‘Powered By Nature’, ‘Sometimes A Prayer Will Do’ or ‘You Raise Me Up’ she’s making it into a powerful spiritual moment. She says she always thinks about God when she sings. When I’m recording in the studio with her it’s actually hard to produce her because I’m so emotionally receptive to her performance I can’t concentrate on technical issues.

On tour she’s a mess, often late for the bus in the morning and always the last to check out of the hotel room. She’s able to miss flights and lose her tickets. It’s a regular part of the tour leader’s job to give her two wake-up calls in the morning. But she’s worth it! She is a genuine world-class talent, and we feel blessed that we’re able to work with her and regard her part of our Secret Garden ensemble.

Espen Grjotheim

Our vocal album Inside I’m Singing had an even split between male and female singers. Obviously we couldn’t tour with ten singers singing one song each, so we had to find an artist who could be versatile enough to cover a selection of songs.

Tracey Campbell became our female singer and the Norwegian singer Espen Grjotheim got the male part. Together they were the perfect duo.

I knew of Espen’s quality ever since he was a teenager, singing club sessions in Kristiansand. Many years later he made it to the finals of the very first season of Pop Idol and for the national public this was their first acquaintance with him.

He was an extraordinary talent and developed his professional career into musical and stage shows. Today he’s probably the leading and most sought after musical male star in Norway, with leading roles in Les Miserables, Mamma Mia, the Queen musical The Show Must Go On, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and many others.

Espen was perfect for us with his versatile singing talent; equally great in ‘You Raise Me Up’ as he was in ‘Thank You’ or ‘My Land’, a song he recorded with us for Inside I’m Singing.

Together with Tracey, they form a strong vocal duo. They are two different artists, but they’re also a perfect blend when they sing together. Normally in a concert, they would sing three or four songs each, and finally join up for ‘You Raise Me Up’ in the end. They gave Secret Garden a new dimension on stage with the variation between instrumental and vocals becoming a mutual benefit both to us and to the audience.

Katie McMahon

We knew the Irish singer Katie McMahon for her astonishing vocals with Anúna, and in Riverdance. Katie was the original soprano, recording the opening á capella song of the show. With her pure voice and Irish way of performing she was exactly what we were looking for. What made it even more ideal for us was the fact that she was also a harpist. We could integrate her into the band, playing harp when she was not singing. That way, we could avoid presenting her as a featured guest artist with multiple introductions and entrances on the stage. Katie did several international tours with us, and when we decided to form the quartet for the 2003 tour in Norway, she was the natural choice for us. She lives in the US and pursues her own solo career, so the logistics aren’t always on our side. But her beautiful voice and musical talent was a joy to work with. Besides, she’s always a happy and cheerful person. She can occasionally have a bad day, but as soon she sees a microphone she is phenomenal – tweeting like a bird.

Fionnuala Gill

Fionnuala Gill from Ireland has many of the same qualities as Katie McMahon. She has a beautiful voice and she plays the harp. That meant that we could alternate between these two great singers and harpists: they could sing the same songs in the same key, and they could both be part of the band on stage even if they weren’t singing and share the same arrangements.

Fionnuala Gill is classically trained, but her own personal style of singing is more traditional. So it’s typical that we asked her to record ‘Sleepsong’ with us for the Earthsongs album in 2004, and ‘Mary’s Lament’ on the Winter Poem album in 2011. They’re two songs with both traditional and classical elements – a combination that suits her perfectly.

There is lightness and at the same time melancholy to her voice, which I’m particularly fond of. I’m equally fascinated by her impeccable diction and her technique. Like Katie, she did a number of international concerts with us. Her debut concert was actually on our first Australian tour, with the performance in the Sydney Opera House. Her previous experience as a singer in Riverdance has stood her in good stead, but apart from that she was mostly coming from small, private events in Ireland… so the tour was a big jump into the international scene. She gradually found her own confidence as an artist within the group and became a true gem for our musical concept. She later joined us for our second quartet tour in Norway in 2005.

Cathrine Iversen

After some years of touring with Tracey and Espen, performing the Inside I’m Singing repertoire, we began making our new instrumental album Winter Poem in 2011. Even before this, while we were working on the Expo Suite, I’d heard the voice of Cathrine Iversen from Norway. She was not a merited, professional solo artist. She was unknown to the public apart from a TV appearance in the Norwegian ESC finals with her girl group Tinkerbells. She hadn’t done any major recording work but she possessed a beautiful voice that immediately appealed to me. Besides, she had sent me demo projects in which she was doing voice layers; an element we’d long discussed implementing in our productions. Her modest part in the recording of the Expo Suite was definitely something we wanted to develop further in the Winter Poem album.

Cathrine has a voice with a great range for vocal arrangements. She has the perfect breathy voice for layers and voice effects and she loved to experiment with different sounds and exploit her vocal possibilities in the studio, almost like an instrument. In numerous tracks on the Winter Poem album her voice is featured as a texture: sometimes very subtle as a chord, sometimes as a vocalise, sometimes as a backing vocal. She is always sprinkling stardust onto the arrangements.

But she’s also a talented artist in her own right. We soon discovered that this multi-talented singer was very valuable for us, not only in the studio, but also on stage. She can take a front position and be a real artist, performing great and passionate versions of our songs; she’s part of the band doing voice arrangements, and she even plays percussion. Unlike most artists, she has a unique talent for planning and organizing, which makes her the perfect production assistant and associate tour manager. So she is as useful off stage as on stage for us, which is rare.

Top Lines

Hans Fredrik Jacobsen

Hans Fredrik Jacobsen

Our first regular top line player is the Norwegian whistle player Hans Fredrik Jacobsen. He’s the only original member of the band who was on stage with us in Dublin when we won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. He’s done countless concerts with us all over the world, but he’s also been busy with his own musical projects, both touring and recording… which means that he’s been unavailable for us from time to time. One of his strengths as a player is his technical excellence. He has a master degree at the University of Oslo as a traditional recorder player, and he is also a versatile improviser of any whistle, which is a rare combination. This means that he’s as capable playing a classical tune with beautiful phrasing as he is improvising fills and creating effects on his instruments. He’s solid as a rock on stage, and he always delivers pure gold in every concert he’s performing with us.

Hans Fredrik enjoys a good meal, a great glass of wine, a good book or some great music. He can produce the most elegant and funny limericks on the spot. There is a story about him I can’t confirm because I wasn’t there, but Espen Andersen, our monitor-mixing engineer, can. On one of our tours he was watching a movie on the plane to China. A group of formal men in black suits was standing right next to his seat discussing something. Hans Fredrik was eventually annoyed by the disturbance they caused, and basically told them to get lost in his slightly ironic and not the most eloquent manner. It turned out that it was the Belgian Prime Minister he’d verbally annihilated.

Hans Fredrik is considered a leading traditional flute player in Norway. His list of recordings and concert projects is a study of Norwegian music history in itself.

Steinar Ofsdal

The Norwegian whistle player Steinar Ofsdal was a regular substitute for Hans Fredrik in covering a majority of the tours: not least the quartet tours in Norway in 2003 and 2005. Steinar is a multi-instrumentalist. He has a collection several hundred instruments at home and he can literally play most of them – a talent we’ve benefited from greatly on many occasions. Especially on the quartet tours, he was a like a one-man-band, playing Hardanger Fiddle on a couple of songs, cello on another, and all his whistles. He’s probably capable of playing any whistle in the world: Asian, African, Australian, American and European. And if this isn’t enough, he even speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese – a skill he’s developed by ear and natural talent rather than academically.

Travelling Norway with Steinar is a special experience. He’s a living GPS. He’s toured Norway so many times he probably knows every road, every turn and every ferry timetable and every route without even looking at a map. He also knows every local Chinese restaurant in Norway, where he will always order food in their native tongue.

Like no other person, Steinar can get completely lost inside traditional performing styles with local variations and different tempered scales. Some find his ‘lecturing’ highly interesting and some find it nerdy, but he’s always sharing his knowledge with 100% enthusiasm. Steinar is a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music and Ole Bull Academy. He’s an artist and a composer with a long list of productions on his CV. He’s simply an icon in Norwegian traditional music.

Mick O’Brien

Just as important as the Norwegian top line players are the Irish. We’ve recorded almost every album with Irish whistles and uilleann Pipes, blended with Norwegian traditional whistles. Bringing Irish players with us on stage has given a great musical balance to the band. The two identities are defining our musical style as a Celtic–Norwegian fusion. Our principal Irish whistle and pipe player since 1998 has been Mick O’Brien.

Mick joined us in 1998. He has since then been a regular member of our band, even if he hasn’t participated in all our concert tours. Mick is a hardcore traditional player, deeply involved on the Irish music scene. He is considered one of the top players in Ireland and is a sought after pipe player, often giving master classes all over the world. We’ve been lucky to have him onboard with us, because he’s so involved with various projects all the time. When he’s not playing, he’s a teacher at an elementary school in Dublin – a devotion in his life that has first priority, even when it comes to touring.

Mick is a genuine gentleman and has a unique way with people. He’s so grounded and unassuming of himself and his great talents. He’s soft spoken and generous. He’s the only single handicap golfer with in the band, even if some of us have developed a passion for the game.

Whatever Mick plays he makes it sound ‘Irish’. He’s style is so embedded in the Celtic tradition. It’s in his blood. Sometimes, in our crossover style with elements from different traditions, classical music and pop, he can be even more ‘Irish’ than we’d anticipated. I guess every language has its own punctuation with commas and stops – it’s like phrasing and breathing marks in a musical sense. Traditional Irish music definitely has its own set of rules. With Mick, there is no compromise in his playing. When it comes to genuine and correct phrasing and articulation he’s a true bearer of the traditional Irish school. He probably knows every Irish reel and jig there is and can sit in on any traditional session at any given point. It’s great crack to join him for a night at the traditional pub sessions in Dublin. As soon as he walks in, the players will recognize him and invite him to play a tune. Everybody loves him. He’s a super player, and will instantly give our music an Irish signature.

Pat Broaders

Our second Irish player, at first substituting for Mick, but later becoming a part of the band, is Pat Broaders. He’s done a lot of touring with us, but he lives in Chicago, which has made the logistics of working together a little awkward sometimes. Pat’s also a great player, both on whistles and Uilleann pipes, and his influences are wider and less bound to traditions. This musical flexibility can sometimes, in the Secret Garden context, be an advantage….

Pat never runs short of a story or a joke. He’s the real entertainer of the group: laughing all the time, even at his own jokes. He’s everybody’s pal and a fun person to be around. He’s also a great singer and bouzouki player and has his own band, Bohola, in Chicago. He’s also part of The Celtic Legends touring ensemble.

Pat’s funny ‘legacy’ to the band is his performance in Beijing on one of our late ‘90s tours. All traditional whistles are tuned to one key, so selecting the right whistle to each tune is essential. On one occasion, I think it was in his solo intro to ‘Pastorale’, it all went terribly wrong. After the concert he came and apologized. “I’m sorry Rolf, I picked the wrong whistle in the wrong key in the wrong song,” he said.

You’re all forgiven, Pat! The laugh was worth it.

Since we produced Inside I’m Singing in 2007, we’ve worked less with Irish whistles and Uilleann pipes. We entered a period with more vocals and music where the Celtic colours have been less dominant. It doesn’t mean that they’re permanently removed from the Secret Garden palate – just temporarily put on hold and will soon be reintroduced on stage with us.

Simon Emes

The first oboist we worked with was Simon Emes, an English player employed as a co-principal at the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the time. He recorded the first albums with us and toured with us until he was offered a principal position in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1998. For a period one of his students Karin Seppola took over and toured with us before Henrik Eurenius became a regular member of the band in 1999.

Henrik Eurenius

Henrik had a different approach. He wasn’t a typical orchestral player and he enjoyed being part of the band, musically and socially. He had a rock n’ roll musician’s image on stage with leather jeans and long hair, making him seem less formal than a classical player. This was a good thing, as we need top line players with an artistic personality. In the classical orchestra everybody is sitting down. In Secret Garden all top-line players are standing up on stage, playing into a close microphone and taking a front position on stage. It’s a different mindset. He toured with us in our most hectic years, from 1999 to 2005.

During our 2006-2007 break, Henrik decided to take a full time position as the principal of a music school and later became the cultural director of Sarpsborg community, and has chosen to devote less time to his oboe playing and more to cultural administration.

Roar Brostrøm

Ever since Winter Poem we’ve worked with Roar Brostrøm. He’s the principal obo player of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. I first asked him to record the solo parts in Inside I’m Singing with the orchestra in Kristiansand in 2007.

Our work relationship developed slowly through recording sessions of the Expo Suite and the Winter Poem album. His first concert with Secret Garden happened in Kyoto in Japan in 2010, and when we put together the ensemble for our Winter Poem tour in 2011, he was a natural choice for us. He has gradually become an invaluable member of the ensemble with his brilliant technique and solid musicality. He’s also become more confident with us as a group, both on and off stage. But he started off very quiet.

I’m aware that I’ve used this characteristic on a few others in the band already, but Roar really defines the true meaning of the word ‘quiet’. In Japan, in the first tours he did with us, he shared the hotel elevator with Fionnuala and Tracey. It was a jolly moment after the concert, with a glass of wine in the hotel bar, celebrating the success of the concert. The girls were giggling and happy when Tracey turned to Roar in the elevator and said: “My gosh Roar, you’re a very quiet person!” Roar paused for the rest of the elevator ascent, until he finally broke the silence with in his soft voice. “Yes,” he thoughtfully replied. That was all. What he needs to say is expressed through his music. He’s an exceptional, top-class player with a strong inner confidence. He’s an experienced, professional musician, even if he’s the newest member of our band. Since 2010 he’s been our main top-line player.

Crew

Dag Stephen Solberg

Dag Stephen Solberg

We met Dag Stephen by coincidence at one of our first corporate events in Oslo. He was coincidentally assigned by the sound company who was hired to do the gig. He was young and inexperienced, but he had this incredible energy and enthusiasm that Fionnuala and I liked. He was ‘hungry’, at the beginning of his career and talented. We saw, in this combination, a perfect potential for us. By investing in his talent and by giving him professional experience along with our own growth as a group, we were confident that Dag Stephen was the right sound engineer for us. This was in 1996 before we started our international touring. When the opportunity came for international concerts, it was never a question of working with anyone else but Dag Stephen… even if he was a novice to the international market.

He is still with us, doing most of our concerts and tours. Needles to say, he’s embedded in our 20-year history, and we rely heavily on his experience and professionalism. Today, he is one of the most sought-after sound engineers in Norway, doing the biggest concerts and events for Norwegian and international top acts.

The sound is essential to a concert, and and there is nothing we can do to affect the sound other than how we play on stage. It’s all resting in the hands of the sound mixer. It could be a subtle detail in the arrangement or a delicate balance between two instruments, it could be the EQs in a difficult hall or it could be the right reverb on the violin. It’s all the small details that will decide how the audience eventually will perceive the music. Everywhere we go, we hear praise of Dag Stephen’s sound. It’s really a matter of trust. We’re very fortunate to have him with us for all these years. He knows our music back to front and still, after almost 2 decades, has this boyish energy and enthusiasm when we work with him.

During a sound check, I might occasionally walk out into the hall just to have a listen and get a feel for the sound. I might have opinions, but mostly I’ve learned to trust our highly qualified sound crew.

In times when Dag Stephen has been unavailable for us, we’ve worked with David Solheim. During the years, he has toured with us on numerous occasions, in Asia, Australia, USA and Europe. There are minor variations in the way they produce sound but they both possess the same ambition and sincerity in their work ethics. David is the calm rock and lets no stress bite even when there’s a storm around him. They’re different persons, but they both share a common understanding of our musical concept, and they’ve both earned our full respect and confidence.

Espen Andersen

The most invisible person for the audience is our monitor mixer, positioned on the side of the stage, obscured from the audience. If you wonder why the band sometimes is gazing to the side, it’s because we have close eye contact with him while we’re performing. The sound he produces is silent to the audience. It’s only an exclusive, closed circuit sound balance for the band.

Still, he is highly important in the process. He controls the individual sound balance, EQs, reverbs, compressions and effects for everybody on stage. Every time we need to adjust the balance, we signal to our monitor mixer. In fact, he can usually see and hear if we need to adjust something without any communication; he knows our individual sound preferences so well that he would detect the problem before we even have time to signal. We don’t actually hear the sound the audience hears in the hall in our in-ear system. Our sound is a totally separate mix. That’s why our monitor engineer is crucial for us. He mixes the ideal work balance for us where we hear exactly what we prefer to hear, not the glossy sound balance for the hall.

We were lucky to find Espen Andersen at the beginning of our career. He was a freelancer then, but I’d met him several times doing monitors for music productions I was involved with for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK. Together with Dag Stephen Solberg, they formed the perfect sound team.

Espen is a security blanket for us. We know when he’s there that we’re in safe hands. He knows us, not only musically and technically, but also personally and emotionally. He can read us, whether we have a good or a bad day, if we have a high stress level or if we have problems. In fact, by character he’s a natural psychologist as well as a sound engineer. This combination makes him a perfect monitor mixer, working directly with the band, individually and collectively. He’s constantly available for us before, during and after a concert. “Espen, can you fix this? Espen, can you help me with that?” He’s invaluable for the band; the one person we rely on for every performance, so he is worth his weight in gold!

He’s also usually involved in the planning of a tour as our production manager. Months in advance, he is planning all technical details and the production logistics and setting up the technical rider, often in collaboration with Dag Stephen, Trond Dybfest and our management.

Trond Dybfest

Trond first came onboard with us on the quartet tour in Norway in 2005. He combines two important functions. He is our lighting engineer and he is our tour manager, and both jobs are equally important.

He started working for us at a troubled point in our career. His introduction with us was the second quartet tour in Norway in 2005, just before we put all activities on hold for almost two years. It wasn’t the happiest of times, but Trond managed to hold the tour together and made sure we kept up the professional level, even if we struggled with other issues. So when we started touring again with the Inside I’m Singing program in 2008, he was a natural part of our production team; first as a light designer and later as a tour manager, also doing the international concert tours after 2010.

Trond is a true workhorse, running from the break of day till far into the wee hours. Handling both lighting and tour managing are two demanding responsibilities. All the rigging and programming of lights before a concert and at the same time making sure that we as the artists are okay with all practical issues is quite a handful. But Trond has a work capacity like nobody else. Sometimes, if there should be a shortage of time and capacity, he would get support and assistance from the others in the crew. They’re a great team, and after all these years the group is almost self-managed.

Before Trond came onboard, we mostly worked with the lighting designer Ola Bråten. He had done the stage design and the lighting for us, but he continued his professional career in New York, where he earned a master degree in production design. After that, he was mostly involved in theatre productions. He was a creative and ambitious production artist. He always came up with smart and practical ideas – easy to travel with and visually effective on stage. Ola did a lot of international tours with us.

When we started to tour internationally in 1997 we mostly worked with Torill Aas from our management office in Oslo – taking care of day-to-day business on the road. Besides, we had local promoters, representing the companies, assigned to travel with us and handle logistics, transport, hotels etc and make sure that everything was running smoothly. As our touring situation developed and required a more professional handling, we needed someone with international experience – someone who could be part of the planning – a businessperson who would know all the pitfalls and tricks – and be familiar with our routines, on and off the stage.

Mike de Lisle

So, in 2004, when we planned the Australian tour, we hired a professional tour manager for the first time. Mike de Lisle from UK was an experienced road manager – having worked with a lot of great artist for years: Lou Reed, Riverdance and The Waterboys were some on them. For the next years he took care of us – all the business on the road – the day-to-day planning and organizing. One of his trademarks was to travel with his own portable printer. Every morning, before we woke up, Mike stuck the day plan under your hotel door. That way he could make daily updates and keep everybody informed about the last-minute changes in the programme.

Mike was the old-school tour manager – available twenty-four seven. The only time he wanted to himself was breakfast. No one dared to disturb him while he was having coffee and reading his morning papers in the far corner of the restaurant…

It’s funny. All of the boys in the crew are quite hot headed. They like to get things done, and if the local assisting crew are not on the ball, they will hear it.

But after all these years, they’ve become masters in conflict handling and diplomacy. They’ve even developed a great patience. At least they will always protect us as artist if there are problems. Sometimes it’s better for us not knowing about conflicts and technical challenges, and just stay focused on the performance.

Barry Matheson

Apart from the two first years of our career, Barry Matheson has always been our manager. His involvement with Secret Garden started in 1997 at the point when we had made our second album, White Stones. He was actually involved with us even before that, as he was handling our first album at sales manager of Polygram, Norway.

Barry’s primary role as manager is to oversee and plan the professional sides of our business: Handling tours and concerts; economy; contracts and all the logistics. His strong grip on the business side allows us to concentrate on production matters and the creative affairs. This has been a successful balance all these years. As artists, we’re in charge of all production; the writing process, the recording process; and everything that has to do with our music in general. Barry is administrating but not directly involved in creative affairs.

Sometimes, as artists, we have ideas and impulses and don’t limit ourselves by the worry of cost. Barry uses the rational of the brain. Very often he would challenge the creative impulses by his realistic and economical way of thinking- also known as impulse control. As frustrating as it can be, I’ve also come to acknowledge the value of this quality: the balance between yes and no – positive and negative – can be a good thing. I think the reason that we have created a strong, long-lasting partnership with Barry is that both parties respect each other.

Barry’s long experience with the music industry is a valuable asset for us. He knows the business inside out and has earned the respect of everybody – also as a long-time board member of the music industry organisations of Norway. We`re grateful for his support in our career and regard Barry as the “third member” of Secret Garden. Together with his two assistants Torill Aas from 1997-2002 and Trude Bø from 2002-2014, he has been steering our ship with a steady hand.

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Beautiful music, always! 🎶 My favorite music group! 🥰
😊 Holidays!
😊 & Healthy
New Year!

Amo as músicas de vocês. Venham para o Brasil.

I have all of their CDs. Thank you for your beautiful music and Catherine is my favorite soloist that sings with you. Just what the doctor ordered during these times of social distancing. God Bless you all & Merry Christmas

It would if I had it but still having no luck with Amazon UK. Maybe next Christmas?

It’s been sooo great for me that you released this when you did. Been working hard on my new album. You were recording Storyteller at the exact same I was recording Red Sky Prairie. As all things SG are my main influences, having Sacred Night with me now is the extra inspiration I needed ❤️❤️

I listened to it driving to work – and back home again. Great album

The Album is wonderful !!! 🙏❣️🌟🎄 Merry Christmas! 🤗

Sacred Night is the perfect Christmas gift thank you; Have a truly wonderful & safe Christmas. The worlds starts again next year.

Fikk den i postkassa idag..gleder meg til og høre på den.😊

Nydeleg fin cd.God jul. 🌟👍🎅❤

Merry Christmas 🎄

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This song is also in German. Not sure where it originated, but its name is: "Es ist ein Rose entsprungen." English: "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." I remember this song very well from when I was in my high school's chorus and Madrigal singers. I sang the Alto part. 😀

Belíssima!

Beautiful❤

Vakkert.❤

Your new christmas album is fabulous. Thank you so much ❤️

Thanks, Trump!

Amazon UK dont have a delivery date at present☹

Alguien sabe donde puedo comprar uno? Con envío a México

Is this true of your book too? Mine was supposed to arrive 2 days ago and tracking just says delivery is delayed. I can’t wait to get it!!

It seems to accelerate. Scheduled for December 29th, the CD was delivered today.

Ordered three via Amazon and had them within a week, enjoying it very much.

I pre ordered it from Amazon UK and am wondering if I’ll get it in time for Christmas 2021.

I purchased the CD in November and haven't received it yet.

This is the best Christmas album of the year! Looping it for so many times, really beautiful!!!

UN SUPERBE TRAVAIL QUI RESUME DE VRAIS MOMENTS D'EMOTION.

I just love that song! "Es ist ein Rose entsprungen" ("Lo, how a rose e'er blooming") I sang that many years ago in my high school chorus and Madrigal singers. <3 <3 <3

Secret Garden: 🎶 my favorite musical group! 🥰

Eu quero kkkkk

I love Secret Garden and I’m thrilled to hear you have a new Album.

Lucky you to all those that got this. Feel thoroughly let down as ordered CD on 26th Nov and estimated delivery time keeps changing and is now after Christmas. Really poor distribution. Had to cancel order. Disappointed ! 😕

How is it possible to get the CD in Europe?? I can only find delivery from the U.S. – that can't be true, can it? Been trying to get it for weeks 🙁

Please keep your productions and maintain the excellence. Thank you so much.

Anyone else having problems getting the CD in the UK? Ordered on 27th Nov. Just looked on Amazon, said Delivery Pending then just changed to Dec 27th onwards. Think I'll just cancel order and listen for free on Youtube

Very good 👍

Merry Christmas to all of you!!

wonderful ❤

Love the Album! Listen it today! While decorating the tree!

Beautiful

❤️❤️❤️ u guys…best wishes…

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