We can consider Bakken a diva in the sense that she is able to fill concert halls with her presence, as well as the astonishing breadth and brightness of her voice; however, the magic of her personality and her enchanting talent for storytelling go way beyond superficial entertainment. In addition to teaching herself to play violin and piano, Bakken was studying philosophy and economics when she grabbed the bull by the horns and moved to New York, where she hoped to make it in the music business. She regularly performed alongside the Wolfgang Muthspiel, a guitarist of Austrian descent, before working with the German pianist Julia Hülsmann, with whom she recorded the Scattering Poems album. Her real breakthrough came when she relocated to Vienna and The Art of How to Fall achieved gold status in two countries - however much she chooses to express herself in jazz, blues and even a little ragtime or gospel, she remains a European singer to the core. She has received the Amadeus Arard, Austria's top music prize, and has also been nominated for an ECHO Music Prize on several occasions. Today, she lives back in Norway. As a singer who is always able to get back up and reinvent herself in the wake of adversity, her songs give a sense of the emotions, new energies, pathways and passions that open up once one is able to truly let go.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest