'Odes&Elegies', a new album of concertante and solo works, is now out on Sheva Contemporary.
The album features performances by Tom Ottar Andreassen (flute), The Norwegian Radio Orchestra conducted by Ingar Bergby, Jan Bertelsen (oboe d'amore), Ole Eirik Ree (cello), The Oslo Camerata, Bjarne Magnus Jensen (violin), and Henning Kraggerud (violin) & The Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.
"No Search, No Rescue", based on the poem by Palestinian poet Jehan Bseiso, was premiered by The Norwegian Youth Choir and director Yuval Weinberg, as part of their 30th anniversary tour this August, with performances in Lofoten, Trondheim, Bergen, Hamar and Oslo.
Marcus Paus'"Sonatina for Solo Bass" is featured on bassist Dan Styffe's new album "Postcards from Oslo", out on Prima Facie. And "Lasuliansko Horo", written in 2004, gets its first commercial release on disc on violinist Andrew Eng's new album. Stay tuned for more details.
"Sensommer-sanger", a new song cycle on the poetry of Norwegian poet Jan Erik Vold, was premiered at the Skåtøy Festival in July 2017 by harpist Ellen Bödtker, and singers Isa Katharina Gericke (soprano) and Njål Sparbo (baritone).
So honored to be the recipient of the Norwegian Music Publishers' Prize for "Composer of the Year 2016"!
-"Love Songs" was premiered by Tora Augestad and Nikolai Matthews on November 5th, as part of the Krantz Chamber Concert Series at Nynorskens hus in Oslo. Scored only for voice and double bass, the piece is a kind of sequel to 2014's "Hate Songs", as it, too, is based on the poetry of Dorothy Parker
-"Marble Songs" for Solo Oboe d'Amore was given a very limited CD single release courtesy of artist Håkon Anton Fagerås and the Vigeland Museum. An update to the Audio section is immanent!
-As part of their orchestral Christmas calendar, Swedish Radio chose the 1st movement of my "Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra" for their presentation of the timpani.
Three nominations for this year's Norwegian Music Publishers' Award!
The nominations are for Best Work (Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra), Copyright Holder of the Year, and Breakthrough of the Year.
The awards ceremony will be held at Sentralen in Oslo on March 21st.
On February 9th, renowned virtuoso Henning Kraggerud and the Arctic Chamber Orchestra gave the world premiere of "Love's Last Rites" in Tromsø, as part of an all new and newly commissioned program for a concert featuring Norwegian writer Tor Åge Bringsværd.
A recording will soon be uploaded to the Audio section!
This September will see five premieres in the course of 9 days:
September 16th: Premiere of "Marble Songs“ for solo oboe d'amore (Jan Bertelsen, oboe d'amore, at the Vigeland Museum)
September 19th: Premiere of "The Harvesting" (Adrian Angelico, mezzosoprano, & Ellen Ugelvik, piano, at the Oslo University Assembly Hall)
September 22nd: Premiere of a new (currently untitled and unwritten) piano piece (Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos, piano, at the Oslo National Theatre)
September 24th: Premieres of "Kosmopolis" & "Trisyn" (Julie Kleive & Knut Stiklestad, voice, & Joachim Kwetzinsky & Atmasukha Ananda, piano, at the Oslo House of Stage & Music)
Adding to that two new performances of "The Beauty that Still Remains" by accordionist Frode Haltli and The Norwegian Girls'Choir on September 17th and 24th, and it looks like it's going to be a very busy September indeed...
2016 has been my most prolific year yet, with 13 completed new pieces as of August 24th. Some of these include my Sonata for Double Bass & Piano (for Dan Styffe & Ingrid Andsnes), "The Harvesting" (for Adrian Angelico), and two short song cycles on the poetry of Cornelius Jakhelln, "Kosmopolis" and "Trisyn“.
Upcoming projects include a new work for violinist Henning Kraggerud and the strings of the Arctic Philharmonic, a set of nocturnes for pianist Gunilla Süssmann, a song cycle for soprano Isa Katharina Gericke, and my Symphony no. 2 for the Eikanger-Bjørsvik Brass Band.
Work has already begun on an opera adaptation of Susan Hill's "The Woman in Black“, commissioned by the Bergen Chamber Opera, with a libretto by poet Eirik Lodén. But even before the opera's 2017 premiere, I will have started work on a brand new currently top secret opera project commissioned by the Arctic Opera (NOSO). More details will be revealed when I'm at liberty to do so!
"Lux Mundi", a 12 movement, 45 minute work for solo organ, was premiered by lauded organist Kåre Nordstoga at the Oslo Cathedral on March 5th. The work was commissioned for Nordstoga by the Oslo International Church Music Festival.
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra's new CD "Opus 250" is now out on Lawo Classics, and available for purchase at www.lawo.no. The CD features the Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra, as well as new works by Olav Berg, Therese Birkelund Ulvo and Ragnar Söderlind.
"Etterspill: Evighetens blikk" ("Afterplay: Eternity's Gaze") premiered on October 29th in Sandefjord, as part of that city's annual church music festival. Written as a sequel to 2014's "Requiem", the work was commissioned by MiSK, and once again featured a new libretto by Ole Paus, continuing a sort of afterlife narrative in the wake of the requiem's "In paradisum". As with "Requiem", the work was written for singer Knut Stiklestad and pianist Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos, but augmented with parts for harp, performed by Uno Alexander Vesje, and treble voice(s), performed by soloists from the Norwegian boys' choir Sølvguttene. Both works will be recorded for a future CD release on KKV records (Kirkelig Kulturverksted).
A CD featuring "Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra", as well as works by Norwegian composers Therese Birkelund Ulvo, Olav Berg and Ragnar Søderlind, will be out on LAWO in October. The CD is part of the Bergen Philharmonic's 250th anniversary celebration. Stay tuned for more details!
A live recording of the "Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra" is now up in the audio section, featuring Håkon Kartveit on solo timpani, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by maestro Andrew Litton.
As part of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Norway from Nazi occupation, the Norwegian Girls' Choir gave the first performance of "The Beauty That Still Remains", a large scale piece commissioned for them and accordion virtuoso Frode Haltli, based on texts from Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl". The work was premiered in Aulaen, the main assemby hall of the old University of Oslo on May 8th. A recording will hopefully feature in the audio section before too long.
"O Magnum Mysterium" continues to enjoy a rather busy life, as leading marimbist Calum Huggan and the Cantus Ensemble gave the UK premiere of it this past April at St.Gabriel's Church, London, while pianist Madelaine Jones offered the UK premiere of "4 Memento Mori" at the Brighton Fringe Festival in May.
As part of their 250th anniversary celebration, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra has commissioned a concerto for their principal timpanist Håkon Kartveit, who, together with the BPO and conductor laureate Andrew Litton, gave magnificent and inspired first performances on February 19th and 20th. The concert on the 19th was broadcast live on Norwegian Radio P2, and may be heard for a limited time on their website (http://radio.nrk.no/serie/paa-konsert-p2/MKMK07000815/19-02-2015). A recording will be featured on this site shortly!
The audio section has been updated with recordings of "Stambolovo" (a Bulgarian themed piece from 2005 for clarinet, violin and piano 4 hands), as well as a rather recent recording of "Tre Skuffelser (Three Disappointments)", a short song cycle written for Julie Kleive and Joachim Kwetzinsky in 2013. The text by Hilde Lindset really treats each song as a dramatic scene, and as such, the cycle may be viewed as a sort of monodrama, chronicling a young girl's tale of unrequited love through infatuation, desperation and, finally, a triumphant settling of score. The recorded performance is from an exhibition/musical event at Gallery BW15 in Oslo, and includes the ambience of enthusiastic guests in various stages of inebriation. Authenticity is the name of the game...
October 29th saw the premiere of my new "Requiem", a 30 minute work for voice (bass) and piano, and -to my knowledge- the only complete requiem (in content, and not only title) written for such an intimate constellation. It was performed by singer Knut Stiklestad and pianist Stefan Ibsen Zlatanos, and featured a new text by Ole Paus. The premiere took place at MiSK's Church Festival Days, and several performances are already planned for 2015. Stay tuned!
Greetings, dear visitors! It' been a very busy summer, and there's plenty to report:
Tora Augestads brilliant performance of "Hate Songs" with the equally brilliant Finnish Chamber Orchestra and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, can now be heard in the audio section!
Another audio- and catalog addition, is a new piece for solo violin, "Vita", inspired by the murals of Emanuel Vigeland.
Exquisitely performed by violinist Bjarne Magnus Jensen, the work was a private commission for a wedding, and was a welcome change of pace after a summer dictated by the demands of scoring "Spelet om Christian Frederik", a pageant celebrating the bicentennial of Norway's constitution, requiring more than an hour's worth of music in the form of songs, choruses, and lots of underscore.
The pageant sold out all performances of its initial run, and will be staged biannually in Nesparken in the southeastern town of Moss.
In other news, "The Canterville Ghost" was featured as part of Valdres Sommersymfoni's program, and will also make an appearance during this year's Festival for Church, Arts & Culture in Kristiansund. "And Now Abide" has enjoyed a month-long tour of Japan with the Norwegian Girl's Choir, for whom I will soon be embarking on another larger project.
The coming weeks will be filled with proof-reading a new batch of scores for Norsk Musikforlag (among them "A Portrait of Zhou" and "Music for Orchestra"), as well as work on my Sonata for Double Bass & Piano, a new song cycle for Sandefjord's Church Music Festival, and a timpani concerto for Håkon Kartveit and the Bergen Philharmonic!
I'm so pleased to report that the amazing mezzosoprano Tora Augestad will give the international premiere of Hate Songs, a symphonic cabaret on poems by Dorothy Parker, during the Ekenes Summer Concerts in Finland, on August 3rd 2014, with the Finnish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
I'm so happy to be able to present this site. Currently, I'm in the process of uploading more music, as well as completing my list of works from ca. 2000 until the present.
2014 so far has been very busy, with the premieres of my orchestral song cycle "Hate Songs" for Tora Augestad, my chamber opera "Eli Sjursdotter", and a large-scale "Dies Irae", written for Heidi Køhn, and partly based on her book "Jeg er Ikaros (I am Icarus)".
Current and upcoming projects and commissions include a Timpani Concerto for Håkon Kartveit and the Bergen Philharmonic, a Viola Concerto for Catherine Bullock and the Oslo Philharmonic, "Litanies: Concerto for Saxophone Quartet & Choir" for the Rascher Quartet, a Sonata for Double Bass & Piano for Dan Styffe & Ingrid Andsnes, and a few other items, among them a song cycle on new poetry by Ole Paus, a work for accordionist Frode Haltli and Det Norske Jentekor, as well as a new chamber opera.
More updates and uploads will follow soon. In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy the contents presently offered.
Thanks for visiting!