I arrived Voss in Western Norway today, ready for a week rehearsing Karl Seglem’s comissioned work for this year’s Vossajazz festival. We have had some rehearsals in Oslo already, and it is a pleasure and an honour to play together with the wonderful musicians Karl Seglem (tenor sax, goat horn), Kåre Opheim (drums), Håkon Høgemo and Sigrid Moldestad (Hardanger Fiddle), Stefan Bergman (bass and guitar) and Andreas Ulvo (keyboards). The premiere is Saturday, March 31st. A short promo video from rehearsals in Oslo available now:

Over the last few months I have been writing the commissioned work “Nattåpent” (“Night Open”) for Nordisk Samtidspoesifestival – Rolf Jacobsendagene together with Ingvild Koksvik Amundsen. We have composed 6 songs each, to selected poems by Rolf Jacobsen. The process has been a challenge but also a great experience – and we’ve learned a lot about writing music.

Our premiere was last Sunday in Hamar, as the last festival concert. A good experience and a great audience! We had the honour of working together with two wonderful string players: Sigrun Eng on cello and Nils Økland on Hardanger fiddle and violin. They approached our material with an open mind and a lot of good ideas!

It was also a pleasure working together with actor Anders Baasmo Christiansen at the premiere concert. He read several poems by Jacobsen between our songs.

“Nattåpent” will be recorded in October, and we’re working on a release tour in Norway in 2013 – stay tuned!

Next week, on Thursday, February 23rd, we are playing an exclusive concert with orvilsk! in Lyngdal kulturhus! Before our concert, the actors Hans Jacob Sand and Terje Ranes will perform a theatre play based on the great writer Kjell Askildsen’s short story “En plutselig frigjørende tanke” (“A sudden liberating thought”) – and this lineup will be presented only in Lyngdal. There are only 50 tickets available – don’t miss it! More information and ticket reservations: www.lyngdalkulturhus.no.We are very much looking forward to play our first show in Lyngdal. Welcome!

New year – new work! 2011 was a very active year, with tours, festival, projects, composing and recording. Among the results is a brand new record with Lars Jakob Rudjord Ensemble. It was recorded in Sweden in the beginning of April, and now the master tape is finally almost done. Ingvild Koksvik Amundsen and myself are starting our own record label in 2012, and the LJR Ensemble record will be our first release.

The beginning of 2012 is filled with work, work work. I am working hard on our commissioned work for Nordisk samtidspoesi – Rolf Jacobsendagene, and the premiere is set to March 11th. We will have the hounor of playing together with the brilliant musicians Sigrun Eng (cello) and Nils Økland (Hardanger fiddle, violin, Viola d’Amore) on this project, and are very much looking forward!

I also look forward to more concerts with Karl Seglem this year – first off, we travel to Israel in a couple of weeks, for a concert at Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat. Then we are staying at Voss for one week in the end of March, rehearsing Karl’s commisioned work for this year’s Vossajazz festival.

Together with Ingvild Koksvik Amundsen I am also going to play some orvilsk!-concerts this spring, and we will be performing Ketil Bjørnstad’s Haugtussa on some concerts as well.

But first: composing new music. Happy New Year!

I am very happy to announce that I’ve been granted one of four artist scholarships for 2012 from Vest-Agder Fylkeskommune! First of all, I am very honoured – but this also means that I can realize new projects next year. The album with Lars Jakob Rudjord Ensemble is being mixed as we speak, and it will be released in 2012. There are also some other exciting projects happening next year, stay tuned for more info!

Some press quotes regarding the scolarship here:
http://avisenagder.no/index.php?page=vis_nyhet&NyhetID=14126
http://www.favis.no/artikkel_print.asp?ArtID=86580

Christmas concert in Flekkefjord coming up!
A short video teaser available here:

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151023664995545

Welcome! Flekkefjord Church, December 11th at 5 pm!

We are excited to play 2 concerts with orvilsk! in Oslo in a couple of weeks! First up is Josefine Visescene November 30th. We’re playing two brand new songs this night, ordered by Josefine Visescene. We enjoyed playing there last season – great sound, nice backstage and a wonderful audience. The day after, December 1st, we’re playing a concert at Majorstua library, also in Oslo. Welcome!

The planning of next year’s Fyrlyd festival at Lista has started! Dates for our 4th summer festival are July 2. – July 8th. We’ll start planning the programming soon – stay tuned for updates on programme and venues! And please like our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Fyrlyd  !

I am excited to announce that I will compose 2 commissioned works in the near future, together with Ingvild Koksvik Amundsen! First out is Josefine Visescene in Oslo, who has commissioned two new songs from us. They will be performed the 30th of November, together with other commissioned works from Olga Konkova, Geirr Lystrup among others.

The poetry festival at Hamar, Rolf Jacobsen-dagene, has commissioned a concert for the coming festival in March 2012. We will select poems from Rolf Jacobsen’s work “Nattåpent” for an hour long concert, and we will also be working together with writer Wenche-Britt Hagabakken.

Next week I am travelling to Nord-Trøndelag, playing 3 concerts with orvilsk!. We are visiting the libraries in Levanger, Stjørdal and Namsos. The record we released in 2010 is now nearly sold out, but we still have some copies left – it is available on our shows!