Norwegian composer Ståle Kleiberg explores migration, identity and remembrance on his powerful new orchestral album.
Norwegian composer Ståle Kleiberg announces his new album, Across the Ocean towards a Higher Firmament. The release features the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Szilvay.
The album arrives through LAWO Classics. It was released digitally on 28 August 2026. A physical CD release will follow in January 2028.
Across the Ocean towards a Higher Firmament brings together three works from Kleiberg’s extensive catalogue. Together, they explore history, memory, migration and human experience.
A Symphony Inspired by Migration
At the heart of the album is Kleiberg’s Symphony No. 3, Across the Ocean towards a Higher Firmament.
The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra commissioned the work. Peter Szilvay conducted its premiere in April 2025.
Kleiberg wrote the symphony in connection with Norway’s National Jubilee 2030. The project also connects with the 2025 theme of migration and identity.
The symphony explores the great wave of Norwegian emigration to North America. This migration took place during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Across three movements, Kleiberg follows an emotional journey. The music moves from yearning to drama before reaching a hymn-like conclusion.
As a result, the symphony reflects the experiences of people who left Norway. They travelled across the ocean in search of a new life.
Remembering Cissi Klein
The album opens with Lamento – Cissi Klein in memoriam, a tender and deeply moving tribute to Cissi Klein, a young Jewish girl from Trondheim who was killed during the Second World War.
The composition forms part of Kleiberg’s wider trilogy addressing Nazi persecution, alongside his Requiem – for the Victims of Nazi Persecution and cello concerto Dopo. Through this work, Kleiberg continues his exploration of memory, loss and the importance of remembering those affected by history.
The album also features The Town and its People, completed in 2022, creating a musical journey that moves between the intimate and the epic.
Ståle Kleiberg and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
Kleiberg is recognised as one of Norway’s accomplished living composers, with a body of work spanning large-scale orchestral and vocal compositions. His works, including Requiem – for the Victims of Nazi Persecution and David and Bathsheba, have received international acclaim.
His long-standing artistic relationship with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra is central to this latest recording, with conductor Peter Szilvay bringing the orchestra together with Kleiberg’s deeply expressive compositions.
As Professor Emeritus of Music at NTNU in Trondheim, Kleiberg has played an important role in Norway’s contemporary classical music landscape. Across the Ocean towards a Higher Firmament continues his interest in connecting music with history, human experience and collective memory.
With its combination of powerful orchestral writing, historical reflection and emotional storytelling, the album offers a compelling new chapter in Kleiberg’s work — taking listeners on a journey across the ocean towards a higher firmament.
