Else Wolf P1 from Else Olsen S on Vimeo.

Else Wolf P2 from Else Olsen S on Vimeo.

Concert Circus - Part I

Concert Circus - part II

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Else Wolf P3 from Else Olsen S on Vimeo.

Concert Circus - Part III

On Sunday afternoon the sky is still a rich blue and the northern sun makes for a hot walk to Kjøtt. Yet in the shadows cast by the sheds in Bergen's docks the ground still has a treacherous sheen of ice. The venue has tiled floors and the paint is peeling off the concrete walls. The radar radome of the cruise ship Oriana is visible through a clear square set into the opaque frosted glass bricks on the seaward wall of the buildings. The musicians performing work by Else Olsen S. and Christian Wolff are scattered around the room amidst the audience, a double bass here, a vocalist there, piano at the back by a window. It's been advertised as a family day, and children potter around, lean on balloons making them squeak, ask questions in innocently loud whispers, and seem utterly unperturbed by the pattering sounds made by the piano, drones, bells and washes of voice. In the third piece people stand raising their arms as if they're using semaphore and unleash short shape wails and squawks.

A girl of about three looks up at one of the singers on the balcony, and pours a cone of popcorn into a pot of grapes. Un-popped kernels rattle away across the floor. You could even argue that the occasional child's yelp even adds to the performance, makes if come alive. It's one of the most unfussy and engaging stagings of 'difficult' contemporary music that I've ever encountered

Such is the deluge of easily picked apart music that arrived at the Quietus every day that to wander this quiet town by the fjord and under the mountains from one thing to other is as refreshing as when I wash my wrists in the last of the winter snow after climbing 320 metres to the top of Mount Fløyen. There's too much context in music today. Knowledge can be a burden and, when you're faced by a daily bombardment of records by useless indie trouser crusters, familiarity breeds the most vicious contempt. During Borealis, a break from all that, the Norwegian skies were blue, and the strange sounds make the mind shimmer. On the flight over from I was sat next to a retired couple from Norwich who talked enthusiastically about the University Of East Anglia's electronic music department and plugged my headphones into their iPad (that I'd used 20 minutes after takeoff to take photos of the Norfolk for them, the entire county visible in one screen) to play me Scandinavia's native Sami music. They were about to start a 22 night ferry journey up the Norwegian coast from Bergen to the Russian border and I wish they'd delayed their trip. They'd have loved this.

The Quietus

Things Learned At: Bergen's Borealis Festival, By Luke Turner 
Luke Turner , March 28th, 2015 13:04

Video: Karoline Finnema

Christian Wolff (composer, piano)

Else Olsen S. (composer, prepared piano)

Guro Moe (double bass)

Lisa Dillan (voice, measuring cup, glasses)

Maja Ratkje (voice and electronics)

Mia Göran (flute)

Michael Duch (double bass)

Sigyn Fossnes (violin)

Øyvind Skarbø (drums)

Toy Orchestra

Else Olsen S. about Open Form:

In Open Form many of the choices that traditionally are part of the composer's job are being left to the performer. The creative interpreter is given charge. The performers need other methods and technique than what the traditional instrumental education offers and are therefore faced with a whole new set of challenges in addition to the challenges that a traditional piece issues. Metaphorically spoken: In a traditional piece I, the performer, have the task of depicting a rose exactly the way I got it from the composer. In an Open Form-piece I am only given a seed – I have no idea what kind of plant will grow out of it!

Concert Circus

Concert program

Room 1: Main Room

• Performance of the concert program.

• Else Olsen S. talks about the program, about working with the pieces and about Open Form as a genre.

• Presentation and demonstration of scores.

• You're allowed to move around quietly and to go in and out during the concert. The common sreaming-rule applies: If kids or grown-ups start to get loud they will be accompanied to another room.

• Bean bag chairs, pillows and sofas provide resting places for those who want to sit or lie down.

Room 2: Café

Here food and drinks are being served. In addition

the film Rules and Rebels by Ronnie Smith is being

screened with sound via headphones for those who

wish to see the film. Smith has followed Else Olsen S.

for one year, creating an anthropological narrative of

her search for knowledge and experience in Open

Form. The film has previously been shown on 

Norwegian television (NRK) and has been

nominated for several international prizes.

Room 3: The Music Box Room

The moment you enter this room you are part of a performance of Else Olsen S.'s composition Lotto (2010). The composition consists of cards like in a memory game and these cards are in the Music Box Room. Instructors will show you to several stations which represent different memory cards, here you get to play with the cards – maybe with sound? Maybe without sound?

Room 4: Playground

On this playground close to Bergen Kjøtt, the kids can explore different sounds and play on untraditional music instruments under the supervision of two baby-sitters. The parents can play with or without their kids or can experience the other spaces of the Concert Circus at Bergen Kjøtt without children. There will be a contact list so that the baby-sitters can get a hold of the parents at any time.

Christian Wolff (composer og pianist)
Else Olsen S. (composer og prepared piano)
Guro Moe (double bass)
Lisa Dillan (vocal, measuring cup og glasses)
Maja Ratkje (vocal og electronics)
Mia Göran (flute)
Michael Duch (double bass)
Sigyn Fossnes (violin)
Øyvind Skarbø (drums)
Toy Orchestra