Highlights from 2013

Last year I was lucky to be involved with many interesting projects and musicians. Here are some highlights:

Musikkbaren, NMH
This is a concert-series that repeats every second tuesday at the cafeteria in the music-academy NMH. Its an informal setting where students and teachers from the school can showcase their own projects, and sometimes experiment with new settings. This may sound a little academic and boring, but the quality of the music is surprisingly good, and the diversity of the music always makes the evenings unpredictable and interesting: in one night you can hear folk music, jazz and a solo classical piece. I was working there some nights in the spring, and I witnessed many bands and musicians that Im sure will have a high influence on the Norwegian music-scene in the years to come

The ylvis show, october
Did I talk with Bård? Yes! (I asked him to move his feet) Did I touch his guitar? Almost! (at least I attached his DI-box) Did I feel star-struck? A little.. Truth be told, my part in this TV-show was very small: I just worked as a substitute house-technician, rolling cables and helping the maestro Øystein Karlsen at FOH. But still I feel proud of being a part of the most successful Norwegian pop or comedy group in 2013. And to save space on my CV, I will just write: “I have worked with Ylvis.”

Erlend Apneseth, artist in residence at Riksscenen in october
I work alot in Riksscenen, “The Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance”. Although I really like the folk traditions, my heart beats a little harder when I experience folk-musicians that are not afraid to experiment and bring their own personal interpretations to the music. The young fiddle-player Erlend Apneseth is deeply rooted in the Norwegian “slåtte” traditions, but after the first few notes of his solo-concert I realised that he has moved beyond being just a keeper of the traditions: he has found his own unique voice and playing style. He was playing softer than you would expect, but the intensity was so high, and he immediately grabbed the whole attention of the room. It was clear to me that I was working with a very special talent.

Ultima festival for contemporary music
For the past 5 years we have been responsible for documentating world premieres at the Ultima-festival, the biggest festival for contemporary music in Norway. Although the purpose of the recording is just documenting, I strive to make the listening-experience as enjoyable as possible. The post-processing always takes more time than what I plan for, and I get the chance to really get to know the music in a different way than the concert-audience who hear the pieces only once. I feel lucky because I think that alot of this music really benefits from repeated listening, there are so many details that are lost when you hear it the first time..
This year we recorded 8 concerts, and this included vocal/piano duos, pieces for 6 pianos, a pop-suite by Nils Bech, and a concert/multimedia performance of Nadar Ensemble. On youtube you can see a video from one of the compositions in the concert of Nadar Ensemble in Jacobskirken:

Rein Alexander, private event, december
Rein Alexander is very busy before christmas, being part of a successful christmas-concert tour. Therefore, when he was performing in a small company-event in between his touring-days, you could expect him to be lazy, tired and unmotivated. After all, this gig wouldnt exactly make or break his career..  However, before the concert I spent some time with him, and I noticed that he was mentally preparing and building up the tension and almost seemed a little nervous, as if this was an important concert in the Royal Albert hall. I thought to myself, this is the attitude that I want to adapt: threat every job with the same importance. And his performance was of course excellent, he came to me afterwords and praised the sound, but I told him that my job is easy when you work with such talented and hard working musicians.
Rein was also a very nice and talkative person, and he shared some stories that I cannot tell in public:)

I wish you all a happy new year!