Some 16 years ago my friend and colleague Svein Eriksen, then director of a festival encompassing the whole Vestfold region south of Oslo, invited me for a tour, as I had proposed the idea of a baroque festival in Norway. On reaching Larvik there was the overwhelming sense that we had found a home for such a venture.

Music before 1800 was and still must be a live and intimate experience, whether in a tavern, a church or in a chamber or the grand hall of a palace. With such venues beckoning in Larvik and the enthusiastic support especially of Aina Aske, director of Larvik museum, a festival was born. Other colleagues – Andreas Gilhuus, now director of Bølgen Kulturhus, and Hilde Borgir, who singlehandedly with her late husband has reclaimed and restored Tollerodden from rack and ruin, are staunch advocates of Larvik Barokk.

Thus along with funding from Larvik Kommune and annual regional and national grants, the festival has become an irresistible reality.