Introduction to Nara by Tze Yeung Ho

Composer Tze Yeung Ho gives an insight in to the story, motivation and process of the making of his new opera Nara – imperial decline, belonging, and composing in a «third space» all feature in this behind the scenes conversation with artistic director Peter Meanwell. Nara premieres 12th March 2025, at Borealis – a festival for experimental music in Bergen, Norway. Tickets: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/events2025/apningskveld-tze-yeung-ho-nara/ Music: 1st Naamyam, from Nara by Tze Yeung Ho, performed by Gong Strikes One

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence and artist Espen Sommer Eide go deep into Espen’s new work The Waves, which will premiere at Borealis 2022. He discusses how The Waves explores some of the key ideas returning again and again in his work: language and music, building instruments, the form of the album, improvisation, collaboration, and presence and absence. Espen Sommer Eide’s The Waves, runs from 16-20 March 2022 at Christinegaard Hovedgaard in Bergen, Norway. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence and composer Kristine Tjøgersen discuss how she draws inspiration from nature in the creation of her recent works, whether that inspiration is in the form of sound, movement, data, patterns, or behaviours. She shares with us her compositional processes, including how she develops her inventive sound palette, and how she collaborates to realise fully scenographic pieces. She also tells us about the fascinating Bower bird, which is the specimen behind her new work for soundinitiative premiering at Borealis 2022. Kristine Tjøgersen’s BOWER receives its Norwegian premiere at Kulturhuset i Bergen, in Bergen, Norway on the 20th March 2022. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence chats to composer Catherine Lamb about her desire to create pieces that evoke a sense of collective intensity among musicians; about how, as a young composer, she found a sense of belonging through rational intonation; and about how she conceptualises listening and the perception of sound, and in particular the idea of sound as multi-dimensional shapes. Catherine Lamb’s inter-spatia premieres at Borealis – a festival for experimental music on 18th March in Bergen, Norway, and then on the 20th March at MaerzMusik in Berlin, Germany. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music

Meet musician and composer Andreas Borregaard in our podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Andreas Borregaard is a Danish musician, who plays the classical accordion, an instrument that few people link to classical music. Besides being a performer, he is working on his phD, “Just Do It! – Exploring the Musician’s Use of Bodily Performance”, he is a composer and a teacher of the accordion, and is actively influencing the development of this young instrument’s use and repertoire. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Andreas Borregaard at his home in Copenhagen, Denmark, and hears his story of how he uses the classical accordion together with voice and body in his performances. Andreas will present digital versions of the commissioned works by Philip Venables and Marcela Lucatelli at Borealis 2021. Read more about the artist at Borealis 2021: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/andreas-borregaard-2/ The music in this episode is: - Bent Sørensen: “Looking on Darkness” - Sofia Gubaidulina: “De Profundis” - Excerpt from Niels Rønsholdt’s “Until nothing left”, from the premiere at Borealis 2017 - Eblis Alvarez: “Tango Yo Nunca He Estado In Buenos Aires” (with the group MTQ) - J.S. Bach: “Aria” (Goldberg Variations, BWV 988) (Arr. for accordion) - Marcella Lucatelli, “To Be Free - Drift” Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Meet musician and composer Ricardo Odriozola in our podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Ricardo Odriozola is a Spanish musician and composer, who has been living in Norway since 1987 – a year in which he started to teach violin and chamber music at Bergen's Grieg Academy, where he also conducts a chamber orchestra and a sinfonietta. He performs and composes contemporary and classical music and runs his own record label Amethyst Records. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Ricardo Odriozola at a sound studio in Bergen, and hears his mesmerizing story about his way into music and how his way of challenging himself will develop into a varied violin performance at this year’s Borealis. Read more about the artist at Borealis 2021: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/ricardo-odriozola-2/ The music in this episode is: Kenneth Sivertsen: Døtrene – fremført av koret Gneis (dirigert av Tore Kloster), Stein-Erik Olsen og Ricardo Odriozola. Fra albumet “Dragning, chamber music by Kenneth Sivertsen” ARCD 1301 Ricardo Odriozola: Gualdrapas y Diplonduros – fra albumet “Views from my Horse” ARCD 1401 Pasquale Tassone: Nexus II (1982). Skrevet til Odriozola. Fra albumet “Postcards From Arlington” ARCD 1101 Leslie Hurwitz: Sonatine Prudent, Pratique (1983). Skrevet til Odriozola. Fra “Postcards From Arlington” David Jackson & Le Jury: Susie On the Prowl – Le Jury er Einar Røttingen, Jostein Stalheim og odriozola (en improvisasjonsgruppe). Fra albumet “Jaxon Faces the Jury” ARCD 1201 Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Meet composer and musician Ruth Bakke and visual artist Anne Marthe Dyvi in our new podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Ruth Bakke has composed for everything from brass bands, chamber music, and other orchestras and has been the organist at the Norwegian Church in Storetveit just outside of Bergen for 45 years. She has a fascinating story with studies in the USA in the 60’s and 70’s and a background in elite sports. Anne Marthe Dyvi holds an MA from the art academy in Bergen and has a special interest in technology and time, human existence, survival, and behaviour. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Ruth Bakke and Anne Marthe Dyvi at a sound studio in Bergen, and hears how they met and how in their new collaborative performances for Borealis their cross disciplinary combination of experimental organ music and video projections come together in one piece to be performed in a spectacular church space. Read more about the artists at Borealis 2021: Ruth Bakke: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/ruth-bakke-2/ Anne Marthe Dyvi:https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/anne-marthe-dyvi-2/ The music in this episode is the work Sphaerae, composed and performed by Ruth Bakke. Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Meet the three artists behind a new performance concert called PSST2 specially commissioned for Borealis 2021: The Bergen based drummers and composers Øyvind Skarbø and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde together with illustrator Fredrik Rysjedal in our new podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Øyvind Hegg-Lunde and Øyvind Skarbø are some of Norways most used drummers and composers – are they rivals or friends? Skarbø has a background in jazz and improvisation and has studied with Terje Isungset and Norwegian, Cuban, and Yoruba traditional music. Skarbø has performed on 28 albums, played in 28 countries and in 2019 released his acclaimed album with his new project Skarbø Skulekorps, for which he also composed the music. Hegg-Lunde has a background in both rock, pop, jazz and improvised music. He currently plays in Building Instrument, Erlend Apneseth Trio, Strings & Timpani, Electric Eye and José González’s indie-band Junip, amongst others. Fredrik Rysjedal focuses on self publication and performative comic art and has a central role in the fanzine community in Bergen. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to the artists behind PSST2 in a converted meat factory called Bergen Kjøtt where they are molding the commission, and hears how their friendship developed into an artistic collaboration of music and visuals in a performance for Borealis that is specially aimed at teenagers. Read more about the artists on borealisfestival.no: Øyvind Skarbø: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/oyvind-skarbo-2/ Øyvind Hegg-Lunde: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/oyvind-hegg-lunde-2/ Fredrik Rysjedal: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/fredrik-rysjedal-2/ The music in this episode is composed and performed by Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Meet composer Raven Chacon in our new podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Raven Chacon is an artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation, Arizona. He is a composer and performer of both chamber music and noise music, he also makes visual art and occasionally curates art exhibitions. He also runs his own record label and teaches music to young people in the Navajo Nation. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Raven at his home in Albuquerque New Mexico, and hears how in this new work for Borealis both the chamber music and the noise sides of his practice finally come together in one piece. Read more about Raven at Borealis 2021 https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/events2021/double-weaving-2/ All music featured with permission from An Anthology of Chants Operations by Raven Chacon https://ravenchacon.bandcamp.com/album/an-anthology-of-chants-operations Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Composer Jana Winderen in conversation with Knut Korsbrekke from Havforskningsinstituttet and Geir Pedersen from Christian Michelsen Research Institute about what they have experienced from listening under water. Artist and composer Jana Winderen has spent her life listening under water, creating artworks that bring her into contact with the shifting and sometimes precarious lives of mammals, fish and other organisms that live in the world’s waters. Scientists at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen have long used sound as a way to map water currents and fish movements, through techniques such as hydrophone recording and echograms, to better understand this world beneath the waves. Where then do these two practices meet? One, a sound-focused, creative practice, the other a data-driven scientific research project. We ask Jana Winderen and members of the marine biology community to discuss where their work converges, how important listening is to our understanding of the oceans, and what science and art can learn from each other.