VÅRFEST 2023 – Crossing Borders – International Festival OF NEW WORKS FOR VOICE 30.08 – 02.09

Welcome to the launch of VårFEST 2023 – “Crossing Borders”! Get an insight into this year’s program! VårFEST 2023 promises an extraordinary program with internationally recognized composers and musicians, featuring exploratory vocal repertoire and musical theatre.

Join us for a welcome drink, get this year’s program book, and get the chance to win a raffle festival pass. After the program release, we invite you to a discussion panel that delves into the history of improvisation: “50 Years of Improvising – The improvisation scene in “Norway-US-Netherlands-Hungary-Iran”. Here, internationally recognized composers and improvisers who have been innovating for decades meet with up-and-coming artists to share insights on the music scene’s evolution from the 1970s to the present.

 

The panel is led by Bjørnar Habbestad, Artistic Director of nyMusikk, Norway’s Center for contemporary music.

– Peter Van Bergen from the Netherlands, director, composer, and multi-instrumentalist improviser, founder of studio LOOS, who has performed with, among others, Evan Parker and Cecil Taylor.

– Miguel Frasconi from New York, founding member of The Glass Orchestra, composer, and improviser, who has worked with John Cage and Merce Cunningham.

– Kristin Norderval, composer and singer from the US and Norway, board leader of VoxLAB, performed and recorded works by and alongside composers such as Philip Glass, John Cage, and Pauline Oliveros.

– Gregory Vajda, composer and conductor from Hungary, a.o. Music Director and Conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.

– Anna Molnar, mezzo-soprano from Hungary, was awarded the Annie Fischer Scholarship three times and has a passion for experimental music.

– Idin Samimi Mofakham, Oslo-based Iranian composer/performer, co-founder, and artistic director of the Spectro Center for New Music since 2013, together with the Polish composer and conductor Martyna Kosecka.

– Torgrim Sollid, Norwegian self-taught traditional folk musician, composer, and jazz musician, known for combining folk music with jazz, and for playing in the Jan Garbarek Quartet and Warne Marsh Sextet.

 

Program:

18:30 Welcome drink, snacks and handout of raffle festival pass

18:45 Presentation of the program with Artistic Director Kristin Norderval 

19:00 Discussion Panel: “50 Years of Improvising – The improvisation scene in “NO-US-NL-HU-IR”.

20:00 Announcement of raffle winners and mingle

 

WHAT IS VÅRFEST?

VårFEST is an international festival for new works for voice. VårFEST began in 2019 and has been held in Oslo over three to four days every year since. The content is mainly a new vocal repertoire developed by composers working with experimental vocal expression. Our theme this year is “Crossing Borders”, where we are focusing on creating an open musical experience relevant to people everywhere. We are giving space to marginalized voices and promoting powerful tools for change, set against an existential environmental crisis and calls for freedom. We’ll experience renowned and upcoming composers and improvisers who represent different generations, nationalities, and traditions. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re bringing us all together to promote creativity and community-building.

 

Supported by:

Oslo Kommune

Norsk Komponistforening

Komponistenes Vederlagsfond

Det norske komponistfond

Embassy of Hungary in Oslo

Oslo National Academy of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Oslo)

Kulturdirektoratet