what we immerse ourselves in

interview25.02.2019

So, this is where it all ends

Bára Gísladóttir. © Gabrielle Motola

For his second interview with young ‘composer/performers’ James Black takes Bára Gísladóttir bowling. Her music and stage presence share a captivatingly introvert, yet apocalyptic, quality that seems like more than a mere artistic approach. In Gísladóttir’s view, the apocalypse is a given.

interview09.01.2019

‘It’s almost like I can feel the whole world’

James Black goes climbing with Marcela Lucatelli in this first of three interviews with young composer/performers.

By James Black
reportage27.12.2018

Deep in the Norwegian forest

Norwegian composer Knut Olaf Sunde radically challenged traditional concert practices with a 13-hour immersive performance.

By Rose Dodd
comment18.12.2018

Not so diverse after all

The Nordic Music Days in Helsinki failed to deliver on its promise of diversity, even if seen from a strictly stylistic point of view, writes participating composer Tine Surel Lange.

By Tine Surel Lange

interview28.11.2018

Man among the machines

Kaj Duncan David. © Anders Bigum

Ever since he was a teenager, Kaj Duncan David’s music has been intimately linked with software and machines. His next major work will use artificial intelligence as both a method and a subject.

By Andrew Mellor

review20.11.2018

Gold fever and infernal machines

Simon Løffler’s personality shines through while Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard’s conceptual gold piece rings hollow at Gong Tomorrow.

By James Black
reportage16.10.2018

Try competing with history, then

Warsaw Autumn is on its way to becoming a victim of its own success, James Black writes in his essay from the Polish capital.

By James Black
reportage14.09.2018

Maybe we fight, maybe we defend

Are commercial demands starting to influence contemporary music in the Nordic countries? James Black writes from the UNM Festival in Bergen, Norway.

By James Black

essay04.09.2018

Memorials of grief: Music after 9/11

© CC0

The most incomprehensible aspect of September 11 may well have been the aftermath, a time when suddenly nothing made sense. Tim Rutherford-Johnson on the musical responses to the 2001 terrorist attacks.

By Tim Rutherford-Johnson

review03.08.2018

»An opera you need to see twice«

A generational cycle of sexual abuse paired with a clear and lucid score. Last year’s operatic talk of the town was back for one day.

By Andrew Mellor
essay11.07.2018

Lullabies and memory loss

Attending a concert – what’s it all about? In this essay Professor Holger Schulze takes us through his listening experience at Klang Festival in Copenhagen.

By Holger Schulze
reportage29.06.2018

Noise in the tropical underground

The Indonesian noise and experimental music scene exists. Sanne Krogh Groth spent two weeks in Central Java, whose local culture influences the music.

By Sanne Krogh Groth