(Un-) settling Sites and Styles

Einar Røttingen

(Un-)settling sites and styles: In search of new expressive means. Eight performers (voice, piano, violin, cello), one musicologist and one composer aspired to unsettle their habitual ways of working with musical interpretation of 20th century and contemporary Norwegian composers. By collaborating to develop new perspectives and methods, they investigated questions of style and how different sites influenced their rehearsals and performances. How do performers find new expressive means? How can intersubjective exchange within a research group contribute to articulating tacit knowledge? How can mutual unsettling approaches influence conventional or subjective attitudes of fidelity to a score or a performance tradition? How can novel sounds, musical material and musical meaning emerge beyond prejudiced conceptions or through improvisation? The three-year project was facilitated by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme and the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (Grieg Academy), University of Bergen, and resulted in texts, sound recordings, videos, and new commented score editions.

(Un-)settling sites and styles

- in Search of New Expressive Means

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Expressive means

Unsettling and unlearning

Unsettling sites and styles

Methological approaches

The individual projects

Results and documentation

References

SITE MAP

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ABOUT KNUT VAAGE

Knut Vaage, born 1961, lives in Bergen, Norway, where he works as a composer. He graduated as a pianist and composer from the Grieg Academy in Bergen and has worked with various styles of music, focusing mainly on improvised and contemporary music. Many of Vaage's projects have explored the boundaries between improvisation and composition. The development of an acoustic/electronic hybrid soundscape is another significant aspect of his music.

Vaage’s musical output ranges from symphonic works to opera and solo pieces. His compositions are frequently performed at concerts and festivals both in Norway and abroad, among them Bergen International Festival, Ultima, Borealis, Ilios, Grec Festival (Barcelona), Prague Spring Festival, Nordic Music Days in Stockholm and Reykjavik, the ECCO festival (The European Contemporary Composers Orchestra), and in Carnegie Hall, New York.

His operas have been staged at The Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Ultima, DNS in Bergen and NOSO in Tromsø, and abroad at Phalztheater, Stadttheater Giessen, Theatre National Luxembourg (TNL) and the Armel Opera Festival in Hungary.

See knutvaage.com

composer-performer collaborations

further reading about the project

some thoughts on improvisation as method

a "comprovisational" conversation: an imaginary meeting

catalogue of cello sounds/new expressive means

biographical notes about John Ehde

biographical notes about Knut Vaage