Love Theme – new video

It was such a thrill to listen to Matias Jentoft (violin), Uno Vesje (harp) and Sverre Barratt-Due perform the newest arrangement of “Love Theme” which I created for Oslo’s cool minimalism festival Interpuls. I was fortunate enough that it was filmed and recorded. Excellent musicianship, and I really love this combination of instruments! 🐳 💕

Matias Jentoft, Uno Vesje and Sverre Barratt-Due perform “Love Theme” by Solveig Sørbø during Interpuls 2023.

Mestermøter i Nasjonalmuseet

Jeg fikk ikke skrevet om dette før, for det har vært så travelt i det siste. Men det var virkelig en stor opplevelse å få musikk fremført under Mestermøter. Nydelig rom fylt av Dextra Musicas instrumenter i stemningsfulle Nasjonalmuseet, og et varmt og takknemlig publikum, flott introduksjon ved FRAM konsertserie, og ikke minst fabelaktige musikere Andreas Morgan Grimstad, Elias Grimstad, Benjamin Lund Tomter og Petter Richter 🐳💕

Interpuls festival

I morgen og lørdag skjer Interpuls festival i Kulturkirken Jakob. Arrangørene har skjønt det. Det blir moderne klassisk- og grenselandmusikk, ikke av den tanngnissende keiserens nye musikk-typen, men deilig, substansiell, og kroppslig engasjerende, deriblant moderne klassikere av Steve Reich og Philip Glass pluss noen norske komponister hvorav noen har urfremføringer. Arrangørene har virkelig skjønt det. Korte konserter- pulser – på 20min og popcorn, alkohol og festivalmat i de mange pausene – interpulsene. Musikken, sjeleføden, er i sentrum, men alle sanser og behovet for pusterom, skravlerom og pirring av smaksløkene settes ikke til side. Ting skjer i “rommet mellom slagene”, som de sier. Og der er kanskje du, midt i stemninga, midt i verden.

Jeg får en ny versjon av “Love Theme” fremført lørdagen, av helt fantastiske musikere – Uno Alexander Vesje på harpe, Matias Jentoft på fiolin, og Sverre Barratt-Due på cello, og samme kveld får man høre Fredrik Høyer, Anna Berg og mange fler. Jeg gleder meg virkelig til hele denne musikerdrevne festivalen. Hashtag publikumsutvikling, hashtag neoklassisk musikk, hashtag musisering, hashtag det er her det skjer. Varm takk til Daniel Lyngstad for invitasjonen! ❤

To nye ting!

Hør episoden “Kvinnen er hjemlandet”

Disse to nyhetene smalt jeg altså, siden de kom rett etter hverandre, sammen med et bilde fra min speisa fest (øverst). Kollasjen bak er av Nama Jafari, modifisert av meg, og det ser ut til at jeg holder Andreas Ihlebæks TIDAL-bilde, jo!

Intervju i Jazznytt

De fantastiske musikkskribentene Audun Vinger og Filip Roshauw skriver ukentlig jazzblogg i Jazznytt, og denne uka intervjuet Audun meg, og mitt virke fikk en virkelig fin omtale. Det er jeg utrolig glad for! jeg tenker høyt om musikk, og det lenkes til musikken jeg gir ut 1. november, med mesterpianist Ayumi Tanaka.

Love Theme featuring Catharina Chen

My “Love Theme” in a chamber ensemble version is finally out! You can read about it in The Strad and Catharina also visited the radio (NRK) to talk about it and other things.

The music is performed by Catharina Chen (violin), Audun Sandvik (cello), Petter Richter (guitar) and an anonymous pianist. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Åse Ava Lange Fredheim, and artwork is by Saloni Sinha. I originally composed «Love Theme» for a film, but made a new chamber arrangement encouraged by Arve Tellefsen who had a few suggestions. Hope you all like it!🐳💕

Me and Catharina in The Strad
Animated artwork video

I’m on TV

It was a huge kick to have my music performed in the great Fartein Valen hall in Stavanger! NRK Rogaland followed me for half a day to collect two minutes of glimpses from the day of the concert. You can watch the television report here.

We didn’t manage to fill all 1500 seats, but the audience that came were wonderful, and I had them sing – In the aria Gi meg solen from Heroin Chic Elise cannot say the last word, so the audience does. After this song the musicians performed Elises klage and the huge organ produced incredible deep and loud tones. The concert was recorded, so I might share some excerpts later.

Julie Hasfjord (soprano), Ashley Tong (violin), Elena Cotrone (violin), Jonathan Siahaan (piano), Xiiaoti Guo (viola), Sebastian Kolin (cello) and Ådne Sæverud (organ) perform “Gi meg solen” and “Elises klage” from Heroin Chic by Solveig Sørbø and Maria Kjos Fonn. Photo by Foppe Schut.

Concert in Stavanger Concert Hall

On August 4th I have something big coming up! I will have a new work premiered in Stavanger Concert Hall! Soprano Julie Hasfjord will perform the aria “Elises klage” (“Elise’s Lament”) as well as “Gi meg solen” / “Voggesang ved soloppgang” (“Give me the Sun” / Lullaby at Dawn) together with some brilliant musicians: Ashley Tong (violin), Sebastian Kolin (cello) and Jonathan Siahaan (piano) of the award-winning Heathcliff Trio will be joined by Elena K. Cotrone (violin), Xiaoti Guo (viola) and Ådne Sæverud (organ). The performance is part of a free concert featuring works by 8 composers invited by the festival Stavanger K&Mfest (big thanks!). This will be the first time I get to use the gigantic and majestic organ of the Fartein Valen hall (thank you!), and I am extremely excited about it! There is space for an audience of 1500 and I really hope the event can attract this many. With 8 composers and tens of musicians there should most definetely be music that will be music in your ears! Read more about the concert here. Hope to see you!

Forprosjektstøtte og her er en smakebit

Det blir forprosjekt takket være Kulturrådet ! Det betyr at Maria Kjos Fonn og jeg skal leke masse med folk, gråte masse blod, og være frustrerte og inspirerte. Et lite utdrag fra Marias morbide libretto:

Er skåret ned til knokler, ben

Markspist og endelig ren

Ribbet fra svor, flesk og fett

Dø ung, bli et vakkert sjelett

🖤

Photo by Felipe Hueb on Pexels.com

Heroin Chic – Opera

I received grants from Norsk Komponistforening, TONO and NOPA in order to develop the opera “Heroin Chic” 💰💰💰 (thank you!) This means that we are a step closer to realizing this very ambitious project, and I am so thrilled! While this is an important step, we still need to get much more funding so that we can assemble a whole team and get shit done! Here is me sending a message in a bottle 🍾 out on the vast oceans hoping someone will be interested in a collaboration. The message reads:

Dear reader! I am so happy you found my message. Do you work with an ensemble, an opera house or perhaps a festival? Would you like to work with me on making an opera about substance abuse, promiscuity, a cunning death wish, light and darkness? Below is more information and a short video where you hear a little bit of the aria “Voggesang ved soloppgang”. I also have a project description and many work samples that I’ll gladly share with you if you are interested. Do get in touch if you have any questions or just want a peek into our process. Hope to hear from you soon! xx Sincerely, Solveig Sørbø

Introduction: Elise comes from a musical home at Uranienborg in Oslo. Everything is seemingly safe, yet she wants to get away from home. She wants to be weightless, not leave traces. She tries everything. Asceticism, transgressions, too little too much. Finally it’s there. The intoxication that gives her everything she has wanted – namely nothing. To fade out, get numb. Heroin chic is an opera about a social descent without any clear cause. About a disorder that is not soiled by external circumstances. It is enough in itself. The essence.

Format: The opera is threefold and can be performed in parts or in one. The opera needs a small orchestra and singers, and we are open to upscaling and downscaling. One of the parts is a church opera, hence a great fit for church music festivals, but all parts can be adapted to different conditions.

From “Voggesang ved soloppgang” by Maria Kjos Fonn and Solveig Sørbø, performed at Biermannsgården by Susanna Wolff, Sverre Indris Joner, Visobel Black and Mirsaeed Hosseiny Panah.