Bendik Bjørnstad Foss

Bendik B. Foss is a violist living in Oslo, Norway. After nine years in the Oslo
Philharmonic Orchestra, he became a full-time freelancer in 2011 and has since had an
active career with an emphasis on contemporary music and chamber music. Bendik is a
member of the Cikada Ensemble, Oslo Sinfonietta and Ensemble Ernst, and has also tried
to understand semiotic theory at the University of Oslo. He is married to the
Norwegian/Indian violinist and composer Harpreet Bansal, and together they have two
kids aged 8 and 4.

DJ 99 - Guttorm Andreasen

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.

Ole Morten Vågan

Since the late nineties, Vågan has been active on the Norwegian scene, both as a bass player, and bandleader. Coming into the public eye first as leader for the collective MOTIF, he is now known as one of the most prolific bassplayers of his generation. Coming out of the young jazz and improv communities of Trondheim and Oslo, he has gone on to perform with many central musicians of both the Scandinavian and the international jazz scene, generations across. Vågan is also a noted composer, and is the artistic director for the well renowned Trondheim Jazz Orchestra for 2017-2019, working with both his own music and that of guests artists like Pat Metheny and others.

BirdWorld

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)

Audun Ellingsen

Audun Ellingsen is a versatile bassplayer working within and beyond the boundaries of jazz. He spent his youth playing in local rock bands on the west coast of Norway before he discovered jazz at age 16 and picked up the double bass. After studies at Leeds College of Music he moved back to Norway and established himself on the Norwegian scene recording and performing with various acts such as Froy Aagre, Kenny Wheeler, Andy Sheppart and Nils Petter Molvaer. He has released two critically acclaimed albums featuring his own compositions with the band Audun Automat and alongside Wenche Losnegård formed the band 1816 that will release its debut album in 2018. 

Auður

Following in the footsteps of Of Monsters and Men, Sigur Rós and Kaleo, 24 year old singer/producer Auður was awarded best Newcomer at the Icelandic Music awards in 2017. Since then he has released his debut EP, opened for Post Malone and become part of the respected RBMA alumni.

Kamilla Arku

London-based pianist Kamilla Arku is a graduate of Yale University and the Royal Northern College of Music. Born in Switzerland to Liberian and Norwegian parents, Kamilla began to study the piano after moving to the U.S. at the age of 5. 

In addition to performing, Kamilla is also a dedicated teacher with a vibrant private studio. She is also committed to volunteer efforts, and since 2008 has organised concerts and events in aid of Liberian children and education with her charity, Music for Liberia. 

Erik Holm

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. 

Espen Reinertsen

Starting off as a saxophone player and improvising musician, Espen's work and interest has diverged into music making and music production of different sorts, as heard on his solo albums Forgaflingspop and Nattsyntese. Using his own voice, lyrics and programming, these albums reflect his desire to bring musical elements together to form an unusual blend.

Playing saxophone is still one of his major occupations, and he can be heard contributing in renowned ensembles such as Streifenjunko, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Koboku Senju and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Awards include SpareBank 1 SMN JazZtipendiat, De Unges Lindemanpris, Spellemannsprisen (Norwegian Grammy) and Trondheim Jazzfestivals Talentpris.

Jon Øivind Ness / Ensemble Ernst

Ensemble Ernst was established in 1996 with a background in the Contemporary Ensemble at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. Thomas Rimul was one of the founders and he and most of the musicians have remained with the ensemble for over 20 years. Ernst emphasizes the more poetic sides of contemporary music; composers as Salvatore Sciarrino, Jonathan Harvey, Francesco Filidei, Toshio Hosokawa, Carola Bauckholt, Ragnhild Berstad, Georg Friedrich Haas, Fausto Romitelli.    

Jon Øivind Ness (1968) grew up in Nord-Trøndelag and is currently living in Oslo, working as a composer. He is influenced by spectral music and music from many other genres, as post punk, prog rock, folk music. He has been a massive Bowie-fan since his awakening in the summer of 1982, and has arranged 10 of Bowie´s songs for classical ensembles since his death.

MASS (Moving Air Sound System)

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.

Homay Schmitz

Homay is a German-born, Vienna-raised musician now residing in London. A colourful background in live performance and music writing/transcriptions led to her finding a home as an In-House Composer at Spitfire Audio, where she continues to explore electronic/traditional music composition and production.

Raph Clarkson

Raph Clarkson is a trombonist, improviser, composer and educator from London. He has developed an eclectic musical career, which spans contemporary jazz, avant-garde improvised music, theatre, contemporary classical music, ska/reggae and South African township jazz. He is best known as the trombonist for the award-winning jazz-punk ensemble WorldService Project, which has seen him tour Europe, China, India and the USA, performing at the London, Tampere, Tokyo and Umea Jazz festivals amongst many others. WSP have also been heavily involved with the Match&Fuse european network, collaborating with artists from across the continent.

Jessica Sligter

Jessica Sligter is an Oslo/Berlin based musician, composer and producer. Sligter’s work explores friction, through synthesis, electroacoustic explorations, gross disregard of established genre delineations, and conceptual frameworks. After years of avid touring, seven releases, collaborative works with artist Jenny Hval, composer Wilbert Bulsink, and much more, Sligter is now anticipating two releases in 2018. Sligter has made commissioned work for amongst others Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Gaudeamus, and Oslo14 Ensemble. She has performed at festivals such as Le Guess Who?, November Music, Piknik i Parken, and many more. Three of Sligter’s solo records are released by Hubro.

Picture by Jenny Berger Myhre

Claire M Singer

The work of Claire M Singer has been widely commissioned, exhibited and performed throughout Europe and North America. This includes acoustic and electronic composition, fixed media, multi-media, installations and live electronics. In recent years her work has focused on a mix of organ, 'cello and electronics with performances and commissions including Union Chapel; Sound Festival Scotland; Tate Modern London; The Shunt Vaults; Chez Poulet Gallery San Francisco; XMV New York City; Fylkingen Institute Stockholm; Ceremony Hall Austin, TX; Norwich Arts Centre; Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Cologne; Muziekgebouw Aan' t ij Amsterdam and the Barbican.

Photo: Emma Stell

Fredrik Rasten

Fredrik Rasten has worked in different constellations of improvised and experimental music over the last six years and has been touring in Europe and Russia with the duo Pip and the quartet Oker. His work focuses on the acoustic guitar and in exploring acoustic phenomena based on tonal interactions.

Thomas Strønen

Thomas Strønen is a Norwegian jazz drummer and composer, known for more than 60 albums, and cooperation with internationally acclaimed musicians worldwide. Strønen is recording for the great German label ECMand also for Rune Grammofon. As a composer, Strønen has contributed to the release of over forty recordings as well as several commissioned works for festivals.

David Skinner

Oslo-based David Skinner has been a professional pianist and bandleader since 2001. David has toured extensively, visiting Japan (6 times), Finland, and various jazz festivals and dance events in Norway, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Greece. David plays regularly at venues all over Oslo, from Oslo Concert Hall to small jazz bars and private engagements.

He also plays electric piano and synthesizers, and his solo electronic project is called Megacrex. 

Vuo Records

Deep moody pulsating techno and house from the forests of Middle Finland.

Ingar Zach / SOFA Records

Ingar Zach is one of the leading musicians on the experimental scene from Norway. He is known for the wide range of sounds in his ever changing percussion setup. He uses his percussion in an extremely dynamic and personal way and with a meticulous precision in his gentle touch. Now living in Madrid, he concentrates on his solo work and his regular ensembles such as Dans les arbres, Huntsville, MURAL to name a few. He has been dedicated to experimental music and folk music for the last twenty years and he is now touring and recording with his regular ensembles in Europe, Canada, USA, South America and Asia. He founded the Norwegian label for improvised music, SOFA, together with guitar player, Ivar Grydeland in May 2000.