“It is so interesting to have this take on the Brontës’ words. The songs bring out something which is there, but overlooked and the settings, the vocals and the magical arrangements are really beautiful and thought-provoking”. Fiona Talkington,.

Budding Rose is a musical journey that stretches back nearly a decade. The project began then composer and musician Terje Johannesen was commissioned to compose the score for the theatre piece ‘Roe Head’ that was to be performed in Oslo in 2003. The piece, which depicts the lives and poetry of sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, inspired Johannesen to continue writing compositions to accompany the classic poems. Johannesen eventually introduced Line Horntveth (of Jaga Jazzist fame) to the project as a vocalist, performer and collaboration partner. This rejuvenated the project and resulted in a title; ‘Budding Rose’ – a reference to the well-known poem. 2013 sees the release of the ‘Budding Rose’ album, an album produced by Martin Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist, National Bank, the Bell Laboratory etc) and Morten Qvenild (In The Country, Susanna & the Magical Orchestra, Solveig Slettahjell etc) that in the words of Qvenild is: ‘…music of great contrasts. Poems from the 1800s meets modern orchestral pop-electronica. Quiet and somber passages contrasted by massive art-rock sections, forays into a robotic world and then a final ending in grandiose, harmonic crescendos played on acoustic instruments.’

The Conexions line-up at Victoria includes Horntveth – vocals, percussion, tuba, Terje Johannesen – guitars, trumpet, vocals, Andreas Mjøs – guitars, keyboards, Thomas Strønen – drums, live-electronics and Bjørn Holm – bass. The UK link is maintained by the string section which is made up of Thomas Gould on violin and Adrian Brendel on cello together with the Norwegian viola player Hanne Skjelbred