The programme for Festspillene is now launched. I am commissioned by Dextra Musica to write a new work for a group of 20 musicians among Norway’s absolute string elite, June 2nd in Bergen
Happy New Year!
Projects this Spring include ORGELNATT (Organ Night), a late-night concert with myself on the organ together with several good collaborators. Scheduled for May - stay tuned for information when this will be confirmed.
I’m also doing an organ project on March 9, at Oslo Church Music Festival.
And a collaboration with Paulus Baroque Ensemble, in 31March/02April.
The main event this Spring is maybe June 2nd in Bergen, a string orchestra piece for a very special ensemble, more on that later!
Last year’s travel to Naryan Mar in north Russia is followed by a trip to Kirkenes, Febr.2-4, to get in touch with singers from the Barents region, for a long term project which, as for now, is quite open.
And, we are pushing the MAZURKA project. A coincidence that it’s Chopin’s 200 year anniversary! The recording with Gjertruds Gypsy Orchestra will be released this year, followed by festival concerts summer and autumn.
Kitchen Five are travelling on Sunday - one week of rehearsals, one week of performances (5.-12dec) in Tel Aviv and finally three days in Palestina, visiting the music department of the University of Nablus.
Read about the performance of TROUT with Avshalom Pollak and Inbal Pinto Dance Company.
Stine Janvin Motland, vocals - Didrik Ingvaldsen, trumpet - Ståle Liavik Solberg, drums - Dag Egil Njaa, electronics - Nils Henrik Asheim, live sound design
7-15 dec - performances of Trout, Tel Aviv, with Inbal Pinto Dance Company / Kitchen Five
24-31 okt - Mazurka turné & innspillingsperiode
19 sep - barnekonsert Oslo Konserthus kl 12 og 14 med Gjertrud Økland / Georg Reiss
7-12 sep - networking trip to Naryan Mar, Russia, for “Vannveien” - Barents project 2010
30 aug - Ratzeburg Cathedral, Germany, with Günter Heinz, trombone
29 aug - Schwarzenbek Amtsrichterhaus, Germany, - ” -
28 aug - Salzwedel Mönchskirche , Germany - ” -
15 aug - world premiere “Cello Stories”, Håkon Samuelsen / Trondheimsolistene, Oslo Kammermusikkfestival
07 aug - Bornholm, konsert med Anne-Lise Berntsen
08 juli - Skien kirke, solokonsert
05 juli - Stavanger konserthus, foaje, med Guro !!
29 juni - Nøtterøy Kirke, Vestfold Festspillene, MAZURKA
11 juni - Fjell kirke, Drammen, konsert med Anne-Lise Berntsen
31 mai - Ole Bull konsert 
med Gjertrud Økland og Georg Reiss
30 mai - premiere MAZURKA, Festspillene Bergen, med Gjertruds Sigøynerorkester
28 mai - tryout concert MAZURKA, Stavanger
09 mai - Kitchen Orchestra w Keith Tippett, Maijazz (I’m not playing but I’m attending)
07 apr - Cadenza from CATCH LIGHT performed by Peter Herresthal/Eirik Raude at Kings place, London
Håkon Samuelsen and Trondheimsolistene are giving the first performance of this new work in the Norwegian Opera, Scene 2, during Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Saturday aug 15 at 13:00.
Cello Stories is basically a concerto for cello and string orchestra. But from there it starts to be different. I built it up thinking of four almost filmatic stories that are interlaced. By calling them “stories” I don’t mean to say they have a plot - rather that they possess a filmatic character, a situation or tableau which i feel is striking, epic and expressive. They also ask for very different quality of sound from the solo instrument, like different personalities. One is shy, talking in short, crystal clear phrases, drawing itself back in between. Another one is abundant and generous, with flowing sound filling a large span of pitch. A third one is hectic, on the edge between chasing and being chased. The fourth one is totally paralyzed, holding its breath, searching a strange slow pulse between nuances that almost don’t change. As these stories come back, they undergo variations. Still without approaching eachother in any attempt to synthesis. The sudden leaps between the contrasting stories are a characteristic feature of the work. (Anyone recall Schumann…?)
The role of the solo instrument versus the orchestra could be described in this way: Everything that happens in the orchestra is born from ideas that start in the cello. You could maybe say that the cello dreamt the whole thing…
This is the second time I investigate the concerto form, after the double concerto for violin and percussion Catch Light, premiered in March this year.
Duration: 25 minutes.
The Sonic Vista project has moved one of their soundbenches from Stavanger to Linz, European Capital of Culture 2009. There are mp3 players in both armrests, and one of them is my composition “Permission for landing”.
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- Sonic Vista bench in park in Linz
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- Sonic Vista bench in park in Linz
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- probably a real Linzer
Stavanger bystyre har satt av 18 millioner kroner til et fond som skal sikre langtidseffektene av kulturbyåret. Et veldig positivt og etterlengtet tiltak i en by som viser gjentatt vilje til satsing på kultur.
Det har vært en del åpne debatter om innholdet i fondet, men jeg har ikke registrert at det har vært noen åpen høring om retningslinjene. Continue reading ‘Innlegg om “Kulturbyfondet”’
PREHEAR! Listen to a few seconds of sound….
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Catch Light is a double concerto for violin and percussion. The Percussion part is built around a Bass drum, which is used for various purposes. The violin part origins in the light, airy register. The two soloists are working on their respective threads, independently but with related ideas. Like a continuous conversation between two persons that keep a certain distance. Traces remain in the orchestra, as veins of sound.
The soloists have micropones, unlike the acoustic situation in a normal classical concert. The close-up sounds become closer, the dry becomes dryer. The instruments speak, breath, scrape. Small falling movements are projected in large format. Light and depth increases. Catch Light is a photographic term describing reflections in the eyes of the object. At a magnified view you might even see a mirroring of the photographer’s face.
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“Noe blir gradvis sirklet inn. Klanger blir mer og mer gjenkjennbare, mens lyset skimrer forbi og ikke lar seg fange. ”
Catch Light er en dobbeltkonsert for fiolin og slagverk. Slagverkstemmen er bygd opp rundt en stortromme, som benyttes til ulike formål. Fiolinstemmen starter i det florlette, lyse registeret. De to solistene arbeider på hver sine tråder, med ideer som er beslektet. Det er som en kontinuerlig samtale mellom to personer som holder en viss avstand. Sporene avtegner seg i orkesteret, som årer av klang.
Solistene har mikrofoner, ikke nødvendigvis for lydstyrken, men for detaljene. De nære lydene blir nærere, det tørre blir tørrere. Det snakker, skraper, puster. Små fallende bevegelser projiseres i stort format. Lyset og dybden øker. Catch Light heter det i fotografiet når du ser reflekser i øynene til objektet. Forstørrer du godt, kan du noen ganger se fotografens speilbilde.
Verket er bestilt av solistene Peter Herresthal og Peter Kates, og solostemmene er skrevet i nært samarbeid med dem.
Det fullstendige programmet på konserten er:
- Kjell Mørk Karlsen: Symfoni nr. 3 «Isslottet»
- Biosphere: Shhoctavoski (urframføring)
- Nils Henrik Asheim: Catch Light, Konsert for fiolin, slagverk og orkester (urframføring)
Medvirkende
Peter S. Szilvay, dirigent
Peter Herresthal, fiolin
Peter Kates, slagverk
Jan/februar - febrilsk skriving
5 mars - konsert Baptistkirken Rjukan, med Elisabeth Vatn, sekkepipe
7 mars - konsert Oslo Konserthus (12:00) - “ -
14 mars - Crossing Grieg, Stavanger
26 mars - premiere Dobbeltkonsert fiolin/slagverk/orkester - Borealis festival, Bergen
30 mai - premiere MAZURKA, Festspillene Bergen, med Gjertruds Sigøynerorkester
31 mai - Ole Bull konsert med Gjertrud Økland og Georg Reiss
11 juni - Engleskyts, Fjell kirke, Drammen
… og andre festivaler i sommer, når de får bekreftet seg…
17 sep 23:15 TV report (NRK 1 / Petter Nome) from my work at the Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger, in August.
18 sep Trans Europe Halles meeting #66 starting at Tou Scene
19 sep 09:30 A few song with Anne-Lise Berntsen in Domkirken, Stavanger, opening concert of Nordic Church Music Symposium
20 sep 12:30 RESONANS - premiere of new work for carillon and electronics, outdoors beside Cathedral
21 sep 11:00 Organ playing + some new work in St.Petri church
27 sep Bergen - New saxophone ensemble NoXAS playing my piece GLASSHUS
09 sep Graz, Austria, festval MUSIKPROTOKOLL - performance with Kitchen Four
18 sep, Tou Scene, MIMITOME - Japanese *TOU NATT event featuring Keiji HAINO and other brilliant artists from Tokyo, along with myself an other guest musicians from Stavanger
31 oct - 2 nov: WHAT’S COOKING - mini-festival 3 days with different constellations of Kitchen Orchestra at Tou Scene
28 nov: talking and improvising with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra / Jonathan Stockhammer
05 dec: workshop with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, pre-studies for new concerto for violin and percussion, Peter Kates and Peter Herresthal