Norwegian bass-baryton Bjørn Mathias Tollefsen (16) sings "O holy night" LIVE on Christmas Eve 2024

[@billhunnicutt3883]

A very touching and musical performance! Thank you and merry Christmas to all.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much, and all the same to you and yours too Bill. This time special efforts was made to display the feelings and joy of Christmas, with a gentle start and larger dynamic variations throughout. We are very glad you liked it and appreciate your comments very much.

[@zsuzska1224]

Algorythm has done what it is made for and I saw this video just now. This performance was so nice, brought tears to my eyes. ❤ Thank you, and to the pianist too. Merry Christmas. 🎄

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so very much for all your kind words. This means a lot and is deeply appreciated. And a very Merry Christmas to you too. 🎄💝

[@a.f.4248]

AlgoRIthm.

[@johnjames5354]

Thank you for the magnificent singing. Absolutely wonderful! Well done! I wish you continued success in your singing career.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so very much for your kind and encouraging comments John. 🙏💝

[@lisag.6599]

Beautiful, young man! Merry Christmas.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much. An Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming year to you too. 🙏💝

[@omboingr]

Ett bra röstmaterial att utveckla tillsammans med en duktig och engagerad sångpedagog

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tacker så mycket 🙏💝

[@GladysBergman]

Thank you from an old Bestemor in Ohio, USA. GOD BLESS YOU

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Ma'am. Very glad you liked it. With the best wishes of a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year. 🙏💝

[@ElisabethBenn-g6i]

Beautiful! Just right to enjoy the Christmas season.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Elisabeth. 🙏💝

[@dorothyventer7167]

Such a voice at 16 years of age ! A brilliant future awaits him. Congratulations!

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Dorothy, for all your beautiful and encouraging words, they are much appreciated and truly inspiring. 🙏💝

[@adasmerek4732]

Det var gift. Mange takk.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk. 🙏💝

[@JOHNKSTOCK]

Tusen takk for at du deler den vakre stemmen din med oss! God jul fra Toronto, Canada.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk John, dette er veldig kjekt og inspirerende å høre. Vi bodde selv i Canada (Calgary) for drøyt 12 år siden, og ble veldig glade i både landet og alle folkene som bor der. Mathias lærte engelsk som sitt første språk der. Fortsatt god og fredfull jul også til deg og dine John, og et riktig godt nyttår også. 🙏💝

[@Toxophilus]

His gentlest and sweetest performance yet! Compliments also to the piano accompanist.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Steve. We agree, this time Mathias and his piano accompanist made special efforts to display the feelings and joy of Christmas, starting more gently to enable larger dynamic variations. It was notable how the church suddenly became almost silent when he started to sing this beautiful Christmas song. 💖

[@janebishop5885]

Beautiful !

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you very much Jane. 🙏💖

[@mikaelb7735]

That you did very well! Good luck with your future music life!! Gott nytt år, från Sverige :)

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tackar så mycket, ock takk likeså. Hoppast ni alla får et fantastisk flott ock trevligt nytt år. 🙏💖

[@anthonyjwalker61]

Great voice and enunciation. I am trying to learn this song in Swedish to sing for my 91 year old mother who is half Swedish. This was a joy to listen to and should help my pronunciation. Thanks for posting this!

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Anthony, much appreciated. Glad to help and wishing you all the best when performing this song in Sweedish for you mum. 🙏💖

[@mariaashot5648]

Sung with exemplary feeling and tenderness, connecting deeply with the listeners... Thank you so much for this beautiful performance and for your video. You do indeed have a precious gift from God: may every blessing accompany your future. Always stay pure in your understanding of music, because only you are able to be You. And the right way shall be Your way to Your rightful place. Every moment around us, we are in the Presence of God: those who understand this truth about our universe are more quickly and sweetly find their way through the complexity of our human society. Have a blessed Christmas season and a safe and satisfying 2025.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Dear Maria. Thank you so very very much for all your beautiful words and guidance, they are very appreciated. Wishing you too a wonderful new year. 🙏💖

[@jazzmusicfan]

Great timbre and wonderful performance! Bravo! 👏🏼

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you very much! 🙏💖

[@bobfritz8705]

Beautiful job Bjorn. 🙂🙂

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Bob. 🙏💖

[@jhill74893]

great job

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much. 🙏💖

[@elizabethsternal2094]

This is real live music , just a piano and a voice , so exposed - mistakes happen, in our world now people a loosing what real live music is, well done both of you

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you very much Elizabeth. You're right, there is a big difference between the perfect studio version and the real live music in a real public Christmas eve seremony with all its background noise presented here. 🙏💖

[@tarzanstroganoff]

Mycket vackert! Tack vore algoritmen fick höra det några veckor efter Jul 😊

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tacker så mycket. Svenske Jussi Björling skapte O helga natt her i Skandinavien, og den tåler vi heldigvis å høre også noen uker etter jul. 🙏💝

[@tarzanstroganoff]

@sveintollefsen1448 Med all respekt för Jussi Björling, som var en fantastisk tenor, och hans stora talang, föredrar jag framförandet av 'Heliga Natt' av en baryton. Min svenska favorit är operasångaren Karl-Magnus Fredriksson (baryton). Du sjunger mycket fint och jag önskar dig all framgång.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

@@tarzanstroganoff Tusen tusen takk igjen! Helt enig, Karl-Magnus Fredriksson synger helt fantastisk, virkelig et stort forbilde! 🙏💝

[@michaeltreadwell777]

BRILLIANT ! My very favourite Christmas Song. I'm 54 years older than you and singing along with you - you have a wonderful voice and you must carry on singing throughout your life. Other people deserve to hear you. WELL DONE - you now have another follower. Take care 🙂

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Dear Michael, your kind words are truly inspiring and motivating to keep practicing, thank you so much. Music and all the feelings it portrays last througout our entire lifetime, that's the beauty and power of it. 🙏💖

[@meriluoto]

❤ från Finland

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tackar så mycket. 🎄💝

[@aliceborolien]

Så dyktig 💐 Veldig vakkert 👏🏻❤️

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk Alice, vi er veldig glade for at du likte det. 🎄💝

[@egilhenrikbjrlo2703]

Hei! Du har gjort mesterverk denne kvelden i Sandnes kirke! Eksellent! Mine beste ord til deg!! Hjertelige hilsener Egil😀😇

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk for så flotte ord Egil, de varmer og Mathias setter stor pris på det. Ha en fortsatt flott og fredfull julefeiring. 🎄💝

[@GiselleParavisini]

Keep it up 👍

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Will do. Thanks very much Giselle. 🙏💝

[@normarobertson5369]

Well done young lad xx

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Norma. 🙏💖

[@antjetautkus5506]

👌 😊

[@karpov7233]

Så fint sjunget och den höga tonen i slutet satt perfekt! Kul att du sjunger den på svenska, texten berör mycket mer än när den sjungs på engelska

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk. 🙏 Ja, arven etter fantastiske Jussi Björling kan man ikke ta lett på. Siden den gang har det vært vanlig å synge denne sangen på svensk også her i Norge. 💝

[@IngerJohanneSørensen]

Nyyydelig.❤❤

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk Inger, vi er veldig glade for at du likte det. 🎄💝

[@isabellenowak9792]

Votre belle voix vient d'arriver jusqu'à moi en Suisse 🇨🇭 Je vous souhaite une grande carrière musicale 🎶 Bonne année 2025 🎶

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Isabelle. Wishing you too a happy and wonderful new year. 🙏💖

[@isabellenowak9792]

Merci ​@@sveintollefsen1448

[@jackgj3771]

Very nice, young lyric voice. Lovely sense of line and focus....very consistent tone. Well done. I hope you are studying with an experienced baritone or tenor. PS - you sound like Baritone too :-) ). Keep singing -The eternal task of song can never be finished in a single lifetime. That is the beauty and fascination of the art. -- Dame Nellie Melba

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you so much Jack, very motiviting to hear. His main teacher is a former professional soprano operasinger, but one of his other teachers is indeed a brilliant baritone. 🙏💖

[@jackgj3771]

@@sveintollefsen1448 My pleasure...both teachers sound good...often actually 2 teachers can often complement each other if basic techniques are harmonious. Just listened to the phrase with the high note, which Bjorn has no problem with, but encourage him to take a breath before the very high note - I know he's singing in Norwegian! - but do this and if possible get a LOW BREATH, drop jaw, fill lobes like a yawn/breath, then keep that BIG space to allow round, full resonance on highest note that will also be a "mix" of chest/lower voice and head/upper spinning ringing voice. Tricky but his baritone teacher will know what I'm describing! Best of luck....another sweet Manger Song is O Men from the Fields by Frank Bridge, English composer. (Music may be hard to find, if so hmu and I'll mail or email a copy!). Perfect song for him right now as he is a serious young man and fine singer. :-)

[@sveintollefsen1448]

@ Thanks very much for the tip Jack. And yes, his teachers know exactly what you're descirbing, in fact, he is asked to train this every singe day. Am sure Mathias will love to sing "O Men from the Fields " too, and if you would be most kind to send a copy of the score, that would be fantastic! E-mail: [e-mail] Thank you so much again. 🙏

[@donnapratt7936]

Bjorn! You are the world’s next Luciano Pavarotti! Exceptional voice…heard in 🍁 🇨🇦 Canada tonight!

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Very humbled to hear this, thank you so very much. Mathias actually lived in Canada (Calgary) for 2 years when he was very young. He learnt english as his first language there, and he even did his first song performance there in the kindergarden, at a Christmas concert for all the parents, at age 3. 🙏💝

[@judyparker4724]

Can't understand him but love the voice and song

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you Judy. Mathias sings this song in Sweedish, in honor of the former great Sweedish tenor Jussi Björling, who made a great recording of this song back in the 50'ies. But the text is quite like the text in "O holy night". 💝

[@Anna-mj9cs]

Flink til å synge og pianospillet er også veldig bra!

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tusen hjertelig takk Anna. 🙏💝

[@BlatteSvartskallsson]

Fan vilken begåvad kille

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Tacker så mycket, hvad kul at höra. 😊💖

[@henrygingercat]

Forgive the pianist, study hard and I'm sure you'll have a great career ahead of you.

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you very much Henry, much appreciated. The pianist is actually very good, just a tiny glitch of lost concentration there... 😅

[@theraptureisnearbelieveinj448]

I think the yapping kids, the coughing, and the fidgeting of the audience is worse. Sigh.

[@a.f.4248]

Bass-baRITONE.

[@kanaanguillory1251]

you realize different countries spell things different and have different languages right?

[@asahallberg-vonde2029]

Han sjunger på svenska, med norsk accent.☝️👍 Tack. Fast han är väll norsk???

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Hej. Superinteressant at du påpeker den norske dialekten på den svenske uttalen i denne sangen, det er ssv. ikke til å unngå. 😅 For Mathias er norsk, og kommer fra Sandnes vest i Norge. Men her i Norge glemmer vi aldri den fantastiske fremføringen av O helga natt av den svenske tenoren Jussi Björling, så mye satte vi pris på den faktisk, at det har blitt vanlig å synge denne sangen på svensk også her i Norge. Og derfor gjør også Mathias det. 🎄💝

[@asahallberg-vonde2029]

Det stämmer, men han är dock bara 18 år, så det finns mycket att se fram emot.

[@kpusa1981uk]

He is 16 a young man that has a lot of time to grow in voice

[@a.f.4248]

With a few years of singing lessons with a good teacher, you’ll make a good decent average singer. Keep it up, young man !

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Thank you. Mathias has been studying under a fantastic classical song peagogue and former professional opera singer for about 5 years now, and learns and keeps developing every day. Still a long way to go, but his ambition is to do better than just becoming an average singer... 😁

[@captainlunaticcc3788]

Ce n'est pas "holy night" mais Minuit Chrétien !

[@sveintollefsen1448]

Yes you are right, this was originally a French carol. But you made it so beautiful, that the rest of the world adapted it and translated it into languages we can understand, so that we could sing it too. But it will of course forever be French. 🙂