Anatomy of Sound will be released at our concerts during Nordic Music Days in Copenhagen, September 26th 15.30 / 16.45 in Dome of Visions http://domeofvisions.dk/dome-of-visions/

The album contains new music written by the Norwegian composers Ruben Sverre Gjertsen and Ole-Henrik Moe.

Anatomy of Sound is recorded in Uranienborg Church by Lindberg Lyd in 9.0 Auro-3D. The record is also available as hybrid SACD.

The production is funded by Arts Council Norway, Fund for Performing Artists (FFUK) and FFLB

JOUISSANCE An extravaganza of musical experiences

3pm – 11pm

For eight hours straight Slotsholmen will be filled with more than 40 concerts presenting some of the most interesting and innovative art music of today, written by Nordic composers and performed by world class ensembles and soloists. The day is dedicated to the extraordinary potential in the relation between music and audience. The ambition of Jouissance is for the audience to leave the everyday humdrum behind and let oneself be seduced by all the facets of Nordic Art Music.

Song Circus recording Ruben Sverre Gjertsen’s “Landscape with Figures” and Ole-Henrik Moe’s “Persefone” in 9.1 Auro-3D to be released on Pure Audio Blu-ray by 2L.

Song Circus visited MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues in March. MaerzMusik is run by The Berliner Festspiele. The ensemble took part of Music Norways delegation together with Oslo Sinfonietta, Cikada, The Norwegian Soloist Choir, BIT 20 and The Kitchen Orchestra.

MaerzMusik – Festival for Time Issues 2015 devotes itself to contemporary time issues with concerts, installations, performances, film projects and discourse sessions. The festival offers a public forum over 10 days that is concerned with prevailing concepts, structures and experiences of time that go beyond chronological and efficiency-oriented temporal regimes. The concrete temporal experiences in music, performances and films are associated with discourses and theories and offer the visitors various ways of accessing the phenomenon of time. With this, the festival delivers a comprehensive contribution to the debate about how we manage time.

Song Circus has recently released the concert programme for the 2015-2016 season, «Anatomy of Sound».

In 2015 Song Circus present ten unique projects, invoving ten contemporary composers: Programme 2015 (plain text)

«Through minutiae explorations into the very microlevels of sound anatomy, through vocal investigations as vell as the activation of spatial premises and the discovery of timbral qualities of objects, Song Circus masters an unusual audial vocabulary that expands the idea of what music can be.»

Illustrations by Nina Elisabeth Børke, Werksemd (NO).

Song Circus has been working with Werksemd since spring 2013 http://www.werksemd.no/. Werksemd is a design office run by the Norwegian artist and designer Nina Elisabeth Børke.

In 2014 our Programme brochure won a prize in Visuelt,

The National Norwegian Graphic Design Awards.

This month our brochure won a bronze in the annual national award GULLBLYANTEN

Song Circus has been collaborating with Lindberg Lyd (Morten Lindberg / Jørn Simenstad) since summer 2013. In April we are recording music by the Norwegian composers Ole-Henrik Moe and Ruben Sverre Gjertsen in Uranienborg Church, Oslo. Feel free to read more about the projects in our websites. We will record the music in 8 channels surround format and release it on Pure Audio Blu-ray in combination with SACD. Morten is among the worlds top Recording Engineers / Producers when it comes to surround format. In 2015 Lindberg Lyd got their 20th Grammy Nomination. Song Circus are thrilled about the project, the music and our collaborators.

In Desember, January and February Song Circus did a concert tour with musical meditations, interventions and yoga concerts based on their own compositions and music by Cornelius Cardew with text by Confusius. The ensemble visited drug rehab centers, psychiatric institutions, asylum for immigrants and related measures. We have also performed in yoga festivals and performed for people at work. It was a wonderful and different experience for us both artistically and on the human level…

On the 17th of March was the first premiére of “Landscapes with figures IIa” by the Norwegian composer Ruben Sverre Gjertsen. Song Circus and Gjertsen have collaborated since 2010.

The name and music of Ruben Sverre Gjertsen surfaced internationally in 2006 when his work ‘Circles’ was commissioned and performed by Pierre Boulez and the Lucerne Festival Academy. He is one of the most articulate compositional voices of his generation. His work is characterised by a virtuosity on the micro level that distorts expectations as to how instruments and ensembles should sound. The minute detail in his scores evoke a particularly vibrant musical material, where the richly textures appear almost as solid objects, tempting us to reach out and touch them. The music appeals to many aspects of our senses, not only to that of listening, as the sound revolves around rubbing, rasping, and scratching sounds. Sometimes these rough, grainy sounds are violent and intense, at other times they are fragile and tender or sparkling and transparent.

In this Norwegian interview Gjertsen speaks about “Landscape with figures” and his approach to composing music: http://www.ballade.no/nmi.nsf/doc/art2012032009361766061341

Before Christmas, it was confirmed that the Norwegian Council continues the ensemble support for Song Circus in 2014. We are very grateful!

This winter we will start recording works by Trevor Wishart, Ruben Sverre Gjertsen and Ole-Henrik Moe. It will be recorded and released in surround format by Lindberg Lyd / 2L.

About Lindberg Lyd / 2L:
2L emphasize surround sound with Pure Audio Blu-ray and HiRes file distribution, and have garnered no less than 14 American GRAMMY nominations since 2006. Nine of these in categories «Best Engineered Album» and «Best Surround Sound Album»

«Landscape with figures IIa» by the Norwegian composer Ruben Sverre Gjertsen will have it´s first premiere in Stavanger on the 16th of March. 45 minutes music written for Song Circus. The room is used in different ways, and the singers are positioned among the audience, and electroacoustic sounds are conveyed via a large loudspeaker setup that fills the room and creates a three-dimensional terrain. We will also perform «Persefone» by Ole-Henrik Moe.

We wish our friends a happy new year!

The premiere of ”Landscape with Figures II” will take place on the 7th of September, a musical piece written for us and Oslo Sinfonietta. The venue for the performance is Dansens Hus in Oslo, during one of Scandinavia’s premier festivals for contemporary music, www.ultima.no. Ruben Sverre Gjertsen will also work out a smaller version of the piece for us and 16 channel’s electronics.

This cooperation with Ruben is exciting for us. We consider him to be one of the foremost Nordic contemporary composers. Read more about it on our project pages. Rubens website.

Song Circus is thankful to the Norwegian Arts Council for supporting us.