Trondheim Vokalensemble's anniversary concert

Address

Innherredsveien 78,
Trondheim

Trondheim Vokalensemble's anniversary concert

Description

Cries of Trondheim! Trondheim Vokalensemble is ten years old. What began as a wish for closer vocal collaboration between two of Trondheim's major institutions, Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera and Nidarosdomen, is now a well-established eight-voice vocal ensemble, with eight of the country's finest singers. The vocal ensemble has made its mark as an enormous vocal resource in the country, and has joined an exclusive group of professional vocal ensembles in Norway. The eight singers, Tonje Eero Hove (soprano), Ranveig Helen Lægreid (soprano), Maria Moen Nohr (alto), Oda Fredriksen (alto), Sigmund Lahn (tenor), Arnstein Morken (tenor), Morten Kvaal (bass) and Iver Bogen Griffiths (bass), make up an artistic vocal force that is unmatched in Trondheim's musical history. At once we have an ensemble in the region that is able to perform music that has never been performed here, and an ensemble that can help lift the region's musical life in a completely new way. In 2026 the ensemble thus turns ten, and it is to be celebrated with a proper festive evening. This autumn the ensemble's first, but not last, album is released. The album contains new works written by two of Trondheim's great composers, but flanked by one of the truly legendary works for vocal ensemble written after the war: Cries of London, by Luciano Berio. Tonight's concert takes as its starting point two of the works from the record, but in addition we also sing two works that have shaped the ensemble and shown what the ensemble can do. They are works that show a range of vocal techniques, and a concert that ranges from the deeply serious to the absurd and humorous. The programme We start with Fredrikke by Eva Holm Foosnæs. Eva has grown to become one of the most important voices in Trondheim's musical life, and she has on a number of occasions contributed to the ensemble's repertoire. Fredrikke revolves around the life of Fredrikke Marie Qvam, one of our foremost women's rights campaigners and humanists. From Eva Holm Foosnæs we make a big leap to Kåre Kolberg's absurd and hysterical Plym-Plym, one of the most central works in Norway's choral history. The text is beyond topical, based among other things on Stein Mehren's Man er tilstede, an absurd sideways glance at political foolishness and American war rhetoric. Luciano Berio's Cries of London has become a central work for the ensemble. The piece is like a musical memory of what it is like to stand in the middle of a street in London, where street vendors try to get all your attention, whether they are selling clothes or garlic. The concert ends with Arne Nordheim's legendary work Aurora, for voices and tape. An incredibly beautiful poem where the light that springs forth in us is what remains. And if the applause is enough, the ensemble may have to step in and show off its percussion skills... Programme: Eva Holm Foosnæs / Fredrikke Kåre Kolberg/Stein Mehren / Plym-Plym Luciano Berio / Cries of London Arne Nordheim / Aurora