Before becoming an acclaimed musician, Carlsen was a pilot, something he “really wanted to become.” Gradually though, he drifted; away from flying – “I realised it wasn’t for me,” he says – and all around Europe. Back to music too, something he’d grown up with and loved, and something that came back into focus.

Playing both guitar and piano, his early influences were diverse and eclectic. An interest in production led him to a degree in Music Technology at the London College of Music. The music he started creating was imbued with aspects from both of these two, disparate professions – the pilot and the musician. “Feet on the ground, head in the sky,” is how he sums up this duality, and his music carries a wonderful, creative dichotomy.

Ed Carlsen

Ed Carlsen has always been a wanderer. A dreamer, even. Of faraway places and people, of a world to be explored. Perhaps it was growing up on an island, Sardinia; perhaps it was his grandfather, teaching him about the stars on warm summer nights.

Italian Composer & Producer

Grains of Gold

Double show, starting both at 17:00 and at 20:30 - support by Orange and Mountains

Elbphilharmonie Hope'n Air

Elbphilharmonie

“As soon as I could stand, I was wandering over to the piano, wanting to play,” she remembers. “I started piano lessons aged six, then wrote my first piece of music aged seven, inspired by a storm outside.” By thirteen, she’d recorded a DIY album between classes at school.

Later in life, Evensen spent some time living in London and New York. “Whatever city I was in, I would find a piano. I needed to. Music has always helped me organise and understand how I’m feeling and release something that maybe I’ve been carrying within.”

Eydís Evensen

Eydís Evensen is a classically-trained pianist and post-classical composer from the Icelandic North. Her music reflects on the nature she grew up in and her years of travel abroad.

Join our newsletter

Social