HITYAMAC is a Norwegian trio working with improvised music, video art and performance art. HITYAMAC consists of Henrik Koppen (performance, video art, light, sound art), Torkjell Hovland (double bass) and Torgeir Hovden Standal (acoustic guitar). For SVS they have made an abstract audio play which combines recordings of sound performances in different urban environments with improvised music.
Johan Lindvall is a Swedish pianist and composer based in Oslo. After finishing his master studies at the Norwegian academy of music he's mainly focusing on minimalistic music, both acoustic and electronic, in composition and improvisation. He's active in projects such as Torg, Antler and Mette Henriette.
Kaja Fjellberg Pettersen is a Norwegian cellist living in Oslo. She is the artistic leader of the string ensemble Oslo Strings, a multidisciplinary string ensemble with numerous collaborations in all kinds of genres. The group, founded in 2013, has grown to be one of the most popular string groups to for recordings and live shows, and the ensemble works more like a band than a traditional chamber group. Open minded to all kinds of music, flexible in the way to learn music and writing their own arrangements, Oslo Strings has become quite unique in the Norwegian music scene.
Ian Anderson plays in many different ensembles, including Duo van Vliet (viola and accordion duo), Scottish Ballet (where he holds the position of Principal Viola), yllwshrk (alternative rock band, ‘yellow shark’, where he plays guitar and writes music), and IMOGEN (Berlin-based chamber music collective).
Recent highlights include Duo van Vliet’s performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’ double concerto for viola, accordion and chamber ensemble, “….”, with the Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej (New Music Orchestra), Katowice; a tour of Europe and Russia with Jonny Greenwood as part of the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists; playing on Radiohead’s latest album A Moon Shaped Pool (also with the London Contemporary Orchestra); and IMOGEN’s debut tour of Germany with Gilles Apap, presenting a thread of music of all styles, including Ravel, Björk, Frank Zappa and Claude Vivier. At the 2017 PODIUM Festival, Esslingen, he presented his version of Björk’s 1997 masterpiece album, Homogenic, reimagined for string quintet and a variety of miscellaneous objects.
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.
The Copenhagen based Heard Sound System, controlled by seasoned music head Jack Maynard aka JBT, will showcase - via vinyl, digital and live performances - the finest musical outsiders and forward thinking mainstreamers originating from and connected to the Nordic lands.
From experimental electronic styles, post rock and beat science jams in dub to sonic docu-poems, post classical and pop, Heard Sound System will join the dots between modern sounds and ancient knowledge systems, the only constant being the highest level of production and originality by the artists they broadcast to the world.
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
Karl Nyberg is a young "up and coming" swedish saxophonist and composer currently living in Oslo. He is active in a lot of different projects such as "Megalodon Collective", Left Exit, Mr K, Bone Machine and many more.
Photo: Thor Egil Leirtrø
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.
