Playing with an orchestra this size is a new experience for the veteran rock musician. But when he’s been given the opportunity, he chooses to use all the colours in the palette, he tells NRK.
– When you play with a small rock band, you have the three primary colours: blue, green and red. With a symphony orchestra, you have the entire colour of the rainbow, says the former Police frontman.
SEE THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
Sold out
Sting opened his tour with The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in Norway this Friday. Oslo Concert Hall was filled to the brink, and among the audience in attendance were Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette Marit and foreign secretary Jonas Gahr Store.
NRK met the musician before he went on stage Friday night, in what is the only interview he'll give while in the Nordic Countries. You can see the full interview above.
Renovating the classics
His symphonic collaboration has one goal, according to the artist himself: To renovate the classic Sting songs. Both the audience in attendance and the critics seemed pleased with the results.
– It wasn’t something that I’d planned as a pop musician. Occasionally I’ve stolen wholesale from classical music anyway, so in a way it’s easy to put back into an orchestral setting, he says.
Sting admits to being a student in the field of classical music, but says he has «fantastic arrangers, a good conductor and a marvellous orchestra» backing him up.
On Sunday, the tour continues on to Denmark.
VIDEO: Interview by Stein Eide at Oslo Concert Hall.
VIDEO: Interview by Stein Eide at Oslo Concert Hall.
