Am I being revealed now? A conversation about impostor syndrome

Johannes Brahms burned works he felt weren't good enough, spending around 20 years on his first symphony. Now we invite you to a conversation about the doubt we all experience and how we can live with it. The Oslo Philharmonic, with Ingeborg Senneset, invites you to talk about imposter syndrome together with Jo Skaansar, Annie Lundgreen, and Brynjar Kolbergsrud. The composer Johannes Brahms was extremely self-critical throughout his career and suffered from what we now call imposter syndrome. He burned and discarded many of his works because he didn't think they were good enough. The pressure came from the shadow of Ludwig van Beethoven, whom many regarded as Brahms' predecessor. “You have no idea how it feels for someone like me to constantly hear such a giant marching behind,” Brahms is said to have told conductor Hermann Levi. It took him around 20 years to complete his first symphony, and when Symphony No. 1 finally premiered in 1876, conductor Hans von Bülow referred to it as “Beethoven's Tenth.” Brahms worked through the doubt. But what about us today? Have you been walking around with a feeling that you could be revealed at any moment as someone who really doesn't know what they're doing, that you don't deserve your place? During Brahms week, we invite you to a conversation about the feeling of being an imposter and how we can live with it. The panel consists of: Ingeborg Senneset Ingeborg Senneset is a freelance journalist, author, and speaker, as well as a trained nurse. She has published bestsellers Anorektisk and Ordbok for overlevelse, the critically acclaimed biography Så mye hadde jeg in collaboration with Paralympic champion Birgit Skarstein, and this spring released the non-fiction book Med pennen mot pesten. Senneset has been open about anorexia, OCD, and ADHD, and has seen psychiatry from the inside through a total of three years as an inpatient. However, she is perhaps best known from debates on topics such as vaccine resistance, monarchy, antisemitism, antibiotic resistance, alternative medicine, and freedom of expression, and has served for many years on the board of Norsk PEN. She is passionate about volunteering, public enlightenment, and a critical discourse that maintains integrity. She has received NTB's language prize, the Year’s Mensa Prize, the Fredrikke Prize, the Year’s Golden Pen, the Year’s Media Name, and was appointed this year's Stiklestad Profile. She prefers the darkness of a cinema to a storm of flashlights and chooses a blanket and a dog over garden parties and mingling. Perhaps because she is waiting to be exposed — Senneset has written about and spoken about imposter syndrome both in Aftenposten and TV 2, and in her latest book. Jo Skaansar Jo Fougner Skaansar is a bassist, composer, and trained psychologist. He has studied at the jazz program at NTNU, Norway's Music Academy, and the University of Oslo. Skaansar works with a variety of bands and artists both domestically and internationally, primarily in jazz and folk music. He has released several albums under his own name and has otherwise contributed as a bassist on over 70 record releases. Skaansar teaches performance preparation at Norway's Music Academy. He is a sought-after speaker and course leader, a regular contributor to the journal Kontekst, where he writes about psychology and performing arts, and host of Mellom slaga, a podcast about musician health and performance psychology. Annie Lundgreen Annie Lundgreen is a freelance saxophonist based in Oslo and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Norway's Music Academy in 2023. She is currently also in her final year of professional studies in psychology. She has long been concerned about mental health among musicians and has participated in debates and conversations on the subject. Brynjar Kolbergsrud Brynjar Kolbergsrud has been employed by the Oslo Philharmonic since 2014 and has served as the solo trumpeter for almost ten years. He grew up with a mother who is a piano teacher and choir conductor, surrounded by music at home. Kolbergsrud studied trumpet w