Varenfanfaren - opening of culture center and school
More than 140 volunteer musicians, youngsters and children participated in the commissioned opening piece of Varen, Randaberg culture scene not far from Stavanger. The event lasted for 25 minutes and featured 2 vintage ship engines, 2 tractors, a number of motorcycles, flute players, brass bands, dancers, drummers, guitar players from the local Culture school, a male choir and an accordion group, custom made steel percussion, recording of the Nautofon at Tungenes lighthouse, and more. The dancers formed their own words with the 8 letters from Gilles & Cecilie studio, ending with the slogan TENK SJØL (think yourself). Idea, staging, direction and composition by Nils Henrik Asheim.
Children's opera "The Tempest" to be staged again at the Norwegian Opera
"Stormen - Forteljinga om Ferdinand og Miranda" will be performed again at Den Norske Opera og Ballet, Oct 22 - Nov 1 2017. Music by Nils Henrik Asheim, libretto by Rune Belsvik.
German premiere of Deep Toccata in Karlsruhe
On April 27, "Deep Toccata" for organ and orchestra is performed by Badische Staatskapelle, organist Carsten Wiebusch and conductor Johannes Willig. The location is Christuskirche, with its monumental Klais organ.
This piece was originally written for the Trondheim Cathedral in 2014. It has now been revised.
A few words about the music: A "Toccata" is a piece with lots of motion, normally executed by one performer. The prefix «Deep» may here indicate several layers of motion, different tasks being performed at different speeds. Together they form a «sea of sound» where fast and slow time are working in parallel.
From the start of the piece we can hear the organ diving down into the orchestra, transmitting motion and energy and then becoming immersed in the resulting sound web. This basic gesture recurs again and again, interpreted in different ways, in a variation form.
Apart from the improvisation-like detail work, the construction of the piece follows a simple architectural plan. Comparable to the paintings of Escher, with endless staircases, there is a harmonic structure moving slowly downwards at a constant speed through all the piece. Against this, there is a counterpoint of ascending lines that becomes more and more prominent as we approach the end.
There are many other sources of inspiration: the film «Inception» with its architecture that is mirrored upwards, where you finally are not sure what is up and down. Also, Gustave Doré’s exuberant illustrations to «Paradise Lost» have been in my mind.
Gloger concert 2017
Renaissance and Baroque chorale settings along with new improvised sounds - on a wonderful instrument. Live recording from Kongsberg, Glogerfestspillene, Jan 28, 2017. To be played at loud volume.
Read more about the concert (in Norwegian)
From 2016 to 2017
Entering 2017, my days are very much filled with studying repertoire and developing new concert programmes. There are festival appearances coming up on the historical instruments of Kongsberg and Røros. Also, there are nice projects in Germany. There are also recording projects. With organ, but also a Kitchen Orchestra project with Roma musicians from Slovakia.
Premiere: Beethoven-nummeret
I had the great pleasure to work again with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, this time for a commentary on Beethoven. The occasion was the Norwegian Culture Council's annual conference, which took place in Stavanger konserthus. I was asked to conceive something around the theme of The Critic, and contacted the author Øyvind Rimbereid. We had worked together before, on the Orgelsjøen project. I fed him with my ideas on deconstructing Beethoven, and my plan to include quotations from his contemporary critics (which varied between elevated praise and completely lack of understanding). I also wanted to create an involvment in the audience, asking them to use their mobile phones, both to disturb them a bit and to make them ideally participate in the large choir of opinions, the of critics, of likes and dislikes (even of the voices of the "millions" of the Ode to Joy).
Sudden Landscapes Premiered on Sept 15
It was an important milestone when Sudden Landscapes finally was performed for the first time in full length, after preparations that stretched over four years. Sudden Landscapes was originally planned as an organ concerto, but evolved to something more like a large-scale symphonic painting where the organ and the orchestra continuously exchange sounds and blend in different ways. The piece is conceived as an uninterrupted series of 30 scenes, and lasts for about 35 minutes.
On September 15, 2016, as a part of the Norwegian Organ Festival, the piece was performed by Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, cond.James Feddeck, and Nils Henrik Asheim on the organ. Sudden Landscapes is commissioned by Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, with support from the Norwegian Cultural Fund.
Orgelkraft
The first Orgelkraft festival is over - thanks to all contributors & to our wonderful audience!
http://www.ballade.no/sak/orgelfamiliedramaet-i-stavanger/