Grader av hvitt, Ultima

Grader av hvitt, et monodrama for stemme og orkester

Sted:	Den norske Opera, scene 2
Tidspunkt:	Fredag 10 sept 2010 kl 1930
	Introduksjon kl 1830 på MS Innvik

Grader av hvitt (tekst: Johan Harstad) settes nå opp igjen i Oslo under Ultima festivalen.
Som ved uroppførelsen i Stavanger 2007 blir det Laila Goody (bildet) som er stemmen.
Kringkastingsorkesteret og Thomas Søndergaard spiller.  Nationalteateret er samarbeidspartner.

Billetter kjøpes fra Operaen på denne lenken

Noen lydklipp fra premieren i Stavanger 2007:

Det var det ordet jeg tenkte på: at jeg hadde forulykket
Skal jeg fortelle deg om grønlandsisen
Visste du forresten at grønlenderne skjærer trailerstore stykker av isen
Men du må velge, du kan ikke få beholde alt.
Begynn å gå
Alle bøkene du har lest

Tou Scene's Enter sounds at Latitude

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Compositions from the ENTER sound installation in Tou Scene's entrance space are now on the programme of the big outdoor festival Latitude (UK), 15th-18th July 2010,

Read more: Tou Scene's Enter sounds at Latitude

Kongsberg sounds

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Soundclips from concert with Paal Nilssen-Love and Nils Henrik Asheim, drums and organ duo, at Kongsberg Jazz festival, July 08 2010.

Kongs080710_2.mp3
Kongs080710_1.mp3
Kongs080710_4.mp3
Kongs080710_5.mp3

Local newspaper called the concert a "surrealistic voyage through sound and images" and "one of the festival's most fascinating concerts" (Laagendalsposten, paper edition). Aftenposten said the musicians "fremstod i et lett himmelsk skjær" (hard to translate... something about heavenly luminescence).

Concerto Grosso - from the premiere 020610

Friday, 25 June 2010

Here are a few soundclips from Concerto Grosso, premiered June 2nd in Grieghallen.

Conc_1.mp3
Conc_3.mp3
Conc_4.mp3
Conc_6.mp3

 

 

Read more: Concerto Grosso - from the premiere 020610

I joined Baktruppen in Rotterdam

Thursday, 24 June 2010

I was asked by Baktruppen to participate in a performance in Rotterdam on June 18th. The Witte de With center of Arts organized a weekend event "Let's compare Mythologies" within a series on the theme of morality.

Read more: I joined Baktruppen in Rotterdam

Report from Orgelnatt / Organ night 2010

Sunday, 16 May 2010

Orgelnatt (Organ Night) gathered almost 200 persons in Oslo Cathedral on May 13th. As this event was not part of a festival, we regard such an attendance as a success. Cirka 150 attended in Stavanger at Maijazz festival, also a good house. The event at Trondheim jazzfestival was very well received, although it did not have such a large audience.

The idea was to create a 2 hour zone of sound. In our written information, we encouraged the public to try different positions in the church. Especially in Stavanger this worked well out.

We started and ended the event by playing the outdoor sound "live" on the loudspeakers. Just few of the audience realized it was the actual passing cars, birds and tramways they heard, as they entered the strange, noisy atmosphere in the church. Listen to soundclips:

Trondheim, introduction with birds
Stavanger, introduction with cymbals and clarinet
Oslo, public talking at start of concert
Oslo, bagpipe playing on top of street musician

"As the wind machine stopped, we were sheer ears and concentration" (review from Vårt Land). The rest of the concert was performed from the organ loft. "It was a far too seldom experience where sound and space came together, also without the distraction of watching the performers." (mail from audience member) A couple of visual artists referred to the event as triggering a lot of inner images.

The music was improvised, within a main structure that was rehearsed in beforehand.  In Oslo it was obvious that we had some people coming for an organ music experience, and maybe not prepared for this kind of improvised music. A few left, but one of those that stayed wrote a long mail describing an event that was a physical and emotional strain, but an overwhelming and provocative experience he would not have missed. A few clips taken with a stereo pair of microphones. More clips may be uploaded when we have mixed the multitrack recording.

Trondheim: reed sonata
Trondheim: the ship
Oslo: organ wheel
Oslo: slow
Stavanger: organ shine

Balance was an issue in the Stavanger concert, as was the disposition of musical energy during the progress of the concert. In our opinion, this was solved in the next two events. So a few comments after Stavanger concert that we could have shortened it by half an hour might not be valid for the concept as such.

"As the musical interplay between Paal Nilssen-Love and Nils Henrik Asheim reached its peak, the church walls dancing with video flames, entirely new spaces and sensations were opened up for us. One of Asheim's intentions is to show the organ as a universe. This he achieves, but even more he shows that the church is a universe, still with a potential to be explored" (From review in Vårt Land) At the end of the concert we turned on the outdoor microphones again.

Oslo: Lasse's cracklebox running along tramway
Stavanger: organ ending with expressive car solos
Oslo: time to stop our concert but Roumanian street musician doesn't agree

Press:

Vårt Land: En halv natt 
Stavanger Aftenblad: To timers lydsone 
Rogalands Avis: Musikalsk dypdykk med orgel 
Ballade: Orgelnatt i Oslo Domkirke

Participating musicians:
Frode Gjerstad, clarinets  |  Elisabet Vatn, bagpipe  |  Lasse Marhaug, electronics  |  Paal Nilssen-Love, drums  |  Nils Henrik Asheim, organ

Read:  Press info for Orgelnatt  May 6, 12 and 13, 2010

Orgelnatt performed in Stavanger

Sunday, 09 May 2010

The new project Orgelnatt (Organ Night) was successfully performed in St.Johannes church, Stavanger. Two hours of sonic zone, at Maijazz festival. Here from rehearsals. Paal Nilssen-Love, Lasse Marhaug, Elisabet Vatn and Frode Gjerstad.

Ready for baroque / new music concert

Sunday, 28 March 2010

Paulus Barokk and Nordic Voices are inviting to a concert with Buxtehude's cantata and new interludes by Nils Henrik Asheim. Stavanger March 31, Oslo April 2.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=104869546213008

Planer for Nye Tou

Friday, 26 February 2010

Stavanger Kommune har offentliggjort sin mulighetsstudie over Nye Tou. 12.000 kvm skal rehabiliteres og bli til en total kunstfabrikk. Les mulighetsstudien her, samt Tou Scenes eget dokument Tou Visjonen. Endelig behandling i formannsskapet 11.mars. Deretter videre prosjektering i etapper.

Commission for Festspillene

Thursday, 14 January 2010

The programme for Bergen International Festival is now launched. I am commissioned by Dextra Musica to write a new work for a group of 20 musicians among Norway’s string elite, June 2nd in Bergen. The concert will commemorate Ole Bull the violinist, which doesn't mean that my piece will have to be specifically related to him.