Resident
Sara Övinge (violin) || Gregor Riddell (cello)
Tlön is a musical duo amalgamating acoustic strings, spoken word and rich electronic textures.
They take their name from the illusory worlds in Jorge Luis Gorbes’ Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius which has directly inspired the imaginary landscapes they strive for in their music.
OJKOS (The Orchestra for Jazz Composers in Oslo) is a contemporary jazz orchestra featuring the next generation of innovative musical voices from the Oslo area.
The ancient greek word οἶκος has three distinct but related meanings: the family, the property of the family, and the house. In a similar way, OJKOS is not just a collective of musicians, but also an environment within which the members can experiment freely and develop their collective musical vocabulary together. Each month during their regular season, a different member leads the ensemble through newly-written music before premiering the material at Nasjonal Jazzscene in Oslo. The orchestra is made up of 14 composers and performers sharing musical influences as broad as third stream jazz, European contemporary music, Norwegian folk music, and Nordic jazz.
Henriette Eilertsen – flute
Camilla Hole – saxophone
Tina Lægreid Olsen – saxophone
Tancred Heyerdahl Husø – trumpet
Richard Köster – trumpet
Lyder Øvreås Røed – trumpet
Magnus Murphy Joelson – trombone
Andreas Rotevatn – trombone
Johannes Fosse Solvang – trombone
Arne Martin Nybo – guitar
Mike McCormick – guitar, laptop
Kristoffer Fossheim Håvik – piano
Alexander Hoholm – bass
Knut Kvifte Nesheim – drum kit, vibraphone
OJKOS is the result of a collaboration between Østnorsk Jazzsenter, Nasjonal Jazzscene and a steering committee of five performer/composers.
Pianist, improvisator and composer Kjetil Mulelid has distinguished himself as an inventive artist, blending genres like jazz, psalms and free jazz in his music. After studying jazz at the acknowledged “Jazzlinja” in Trondheim (NO), he has played concerts and toured with his own music / projects in the whole Scandinavia, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, France, Germany, England, The Faroe Islands, Serbia and USA. In october 2017 he released his first self titled album with his trio on Rune Grammofon, which got honored by critics all over the world ("Best of the year" Jazz FM UK, “a magical album" - The Wire UK, “timeless quality" - Baby Blaue DE, “Unbelievable" - Written In Music NL). He has also released several well spoken albums with other projects like Wako and Kjemilie, and he has played and worked with many great musicians as Arve Henriksen, Kirsti Huke, Ola Kvernberg, Eirik Hegdal, and Nils-Olav Johansen.
Torkjell Hovland is a music critic and journalist based in Oslo writing for Jazznytt, Ballade.no, Folkemusikk and NRK Radio. He wrote his master thesis in Musicology on silence and the Wandelweiser collective, and works with silence in his own music.
DJ 99 - Guttorm Andreasen had his first DJ gig at his school youth club in the winter of 1980. He has been at it ever since. Guttorm has DJed at most clubs and festivals in Norway. He has also travelled the world extensively, DJ’ing from London to Sofia to Barcelona to Bishkek.
Guttorm Andreasen is one of the most experienced journalists in Norway, having worked as a host, presenter and reporter in broadcast radio, tv and print since 1985. He produced and presented literally thousands of music shows during more than 20 years with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, the NRK.
A well-known and respected music journalist, Guttorm Andreasen is also a popular moderator, public speaker, musician and promoter.
Gregor Riddell / cello, electronics
Adam Teixeira / drums, percussion
London/Oslo-based duo BirdWorld is a musical partnership between Gregor Riddell and Adam Teixeira. With a simple acoustic instrumental set up alongside electronically manipulated field recordings and a variety of traditional percussion including numerous kalimbas, the duo weaves between ambient electronic, contemporary classical, world music and jazz improvisation creating soundscapes both natural and otherworldly.
Since meeting during their respective Banff Centre for the Arts Creative Residencies, the duo has gone on to perform across Europe with highlights including a Union Chapel concert filmed and recorded by NTS Radio, an electronic film score commissioned by London Contemporary Orchestra and collaborating with Sanskriti Shrestha, Streifenjunko, Harpreet Bansal, James Kitchman and Alex Stuart among others. Birdworld’s track ‘After Rain’ was included in the August ’18 edition of The Wire Tapper and in October performed at LSO St Luke’s ‘Open Ear’ series live recorded by BBC Radio 3.
Encompassing the 2019 Vernal Equinox, BirdWorld released their debut EP ‘TING TAR TID’. They will release their follow up album UNDA soon.
“ … captivating performance combining jazz, classical and electronica.” (Kings Place March 2017, Cusp Magazine)
Erik Holm is a drummer, producer and dj based in Oslo. Previously collaborated with Bobby Hughes Combination, Bugge Wesseltoft, Beady Belle among others. He is also the eastside of the dj-team Jassbox Oslo, spinning jazz, soul, funk at Nasjonale Jazzscene, Victoria every last Sathurday of the month. He also travels with his own club, Dance to the drummers beat.
Forging modern sounds with ancient knowledge systems by musical outsiders and forward thinking mainstreamers - From experimental electronics, post rock and beat science jams in dub to sonic docu-poems, post classical and pop.
Sara is a former DJ, music blogger, club promoter, band promoter, and illustrator with some mad pastry skills and a life long obsession with Björk.
Katharina Schmidt is a songwriter and researcher based in Berlin. Other work includes music for experimental film, works for radio, and sound art.
Photo: Stefan Lingg
KRANTZ is an exciting new chamber music series based at the iconic Nynorskens hus theatre in Oslo co-directed by Torun Sæter Stavseng, Guro Asheim, Nikolai Mathews and Mathias Halvorsen.
Lucy Railton is a London/Berlin based cellist making her own work as a soloist or in collaboration with artists, film makers and choreographers. She is dedicated to connecting the dots and sharing important and enjoyable creations with people around the world.
Photo by Camille Blake
Norwegian indie rockers Avind stems from the countryside but have found peace in the capital city of Oslo. The lyrics, sung in the Norwegian dialect Sunnmøring, reflects on living an urban life while still feeling connected to the haunting Norwegian nature. Lead singer Tonje Tafjord lure you into a world where big city life, the tranquility of nature and the relations that arises between people in this context, is accompanied by distinct guitar riffs and noisy harmonies.
David Stephen Grant is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Film Music Composition at the Norwegian Film School and Norwegian Academy of Music. As a composer, Grant works on a diverse range of projects, ranging from acoustic concert music to dark electronic noise art and music for experimental theatre.
Tapewind is a new band from Oslo (Norway) whose diverse musical backgrounds span from pop and 60s beat to noise music. Tapewind’s signature sound is built on these very contrasts, combining pop melodies with roaring fuzz sounds and deep, earth-shattering bass notes. In their contributions to SVS Radio they explore and untangle the musical web around some of their central musical influences in an attempt to find its place in music history
Kit Downes is a composer, pianist and organist. He has recorded solo albums for ECM, Rough Trade and Basho Music, and has toured the world with artists such as Squarepusher, Troyka, Julian Arguelles, Nostalgia 77, Thomas Stronen and Micachu.
Photo: Yrjan Sundfør Rodrigues
Gregor Riddell plays the cello and writes music.
He has been member of the Solstice Quartet, Living Room in London, KGB, Tre Voci and Odysseus Piano Trio with whom he performed and toured across Europe at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Union Chapel, Southbank Centre, Edinburgh Festival, Musikverein (Vienna), Musée d'Orsay (Paris), among others.
Alongside his own projects, he’s written music for Galya Bisengalieva, Duo TÖ, the BEAST (Birmingham University), Asamisimasa and Cikada. Having written for the London Contemporary Orchestra, Gregor is also a principle player and has collaborated with artists including Radiohead, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sarah Davachi, Actress and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch.
In 2022, he arranged a solo modular synthesizer work by Qasim Naqvi for string ensemble, piano and dancers premiered at Podium Festival followed by a Cikada Ensemble performance at Ultima Festival in September.
He is a member of duo project Tlön with violinist/composer Sara Övinge and will release their debut album 'Reality' on Jazzland Records in early 2025. They will perform a 19 piece string orchestral arrangement of the record with DNK at Ultima Festival in September 2025.
Following the release of debut album UNDA (2019) and reworks (2021) on Focused Silence, duo project BirdWorld made their Edinburgh Fringe debut in August 2024 and will release of their second album ‘Nurture’ on Norwegian label Dugnad in spring 2025.
In April 2024, alongside Shana Mathai, he co-hosted a Gaza relief concert at Victoria National Jazzscene where all ticket proceeds went towards Norwegian charity Redd Barn that supports vulnerable children in the region. Performing with Shana, Bugge Wesseltoft, Sanyu and Javid Afsari Rad, the concert also featured renowned Oslo-based artists Ibou Cissokho, Harpreet Bansal, Trio Djup and Pål Hausken.
He co-runs an Oslo-based online platform with Torkjell Hovland called SVS broadcasting adventurous music from the Nordics.
He recently set up a versatile Oslo-based session orchestra called OBO which will perform their debut concert with Sigur Rós at Oslo Spektrum on 28th November 2024.
Gregor will write the music for a new clown theatre project based on trolls with Anne Marie Synstad Simonsen, Cecily Audrey Nash and Marie Kallevik Straume which will premiere in 2025.
Gregor was born in London, studied music at Cambridge University and composition at the Royal College of Music. He works mostly between Norway and the UK and lives with his family in Oslo.
Aside from co-founding SVS Radio with Gregor Riddell, Rob Lewis is an active producer, sound designer, and electronic musician based in London.
