19-year-old Michael Grolid from Ås has already been a soloist with his self-composed viola concerto playing with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and orchestras in Bergen and Trondheim. He won the audience prize in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation competition «Virtuos» 2016. In this year's festival, he will partake both playing the viola and as a composer in the festival's talent initiative, and will among other things work with festival composer Sally Beamish.