Nordic Sound Folk Orchestra
Folk music in large format
Førdefestivalen their largest single project ever; 40 folk musicians, 4 composers and 8 soloists will make up the "Nordic Sound Folk Orchestra", where the mission is to highlight solo traditions in an orchestral format based on folk music.
The orchestra is put together by the fiddle players in Gudbrandsdølenes Spelemannslag (Norway), members of the folk music band Folk All-in Band (Sweden), Baltic Crossing (Finland/Denmark) and the Harald Haugaard Quintet (Denmark). Soloists are Olav Luksengård Mjelva on harding fiddle (Norway), Olov Johansson on nyckelharpe (Sweden) and star vocalists Ulla Pirttijärvi (Sapmi/Finland), Lena Willemark (Sweden) and Berit Opheim (Norway). In addition, the composers will also be soloists in the project.
At the opening concert, Thursday 6 July, the Nordic Sound Folk Orchestra will perform newly written music by four Nordic composers: Antti Järvelä (Finland), Mia Marin (Sweden), Harald Haugaard (Denmark) and Jorun Marie Kvernberg (Norway). In addition to new compositions, traditional material from the Nordic countries will also be performed in a new guise.
To conduct the whole thing, the festival has secured the Swedish Karl-Johan Ankarblom, one of the hottest names in the Nordic region when it comes to arranging and orchestration. He has projects with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Stockholm on his CV, but even for him, he surpasses Førde -the project the most!
– We often say that a concert is “unique”, but this time it really is true! It will be several decades before anyone succeeds in gathering so much cutting-edge expertise within the Nordic folk music tradition on one and the same stage again, says Ankarblom.
This year's opening concert will last 2 hours.
Composers and soloists:
Mia Marin - fiddle, 5-string fiddle
Harald Haugaard - fiddle
Jorun M. Kvernberg - fiddle
Antti Järvelä - fiddle
Soloists:
Olav Luksengård Mjelva - Hardanger fiddle
Berit Opheim - vocals
Lena Willemark - vocals, fiddle
Ulla Pirttijärvi - vocals
Olov Johansson - key harp
Orchestra:
Emma Reid - fiddle
Esko Järvelä - 5-string fiddle
Jonas Bleckman - cello
Kirstine Elise Pedersen - cello
Lena Jonsson - fiddle
Nina Perez - fiddle
Emma Ahlberg - 5-string fiddle
Adrian Jones - viola, guitar
Anna Lindblad - fiddle
Kristofer Sundström - double bass
Sune Rahbek - percussion
Gudbrandsdølenes Fiddlers' Club:
Aslak Brimi - fiddle
Sigrun Dyvik - fiddle
Selma French Bolstad - fiddle
Olaug Furusæter - fiddle
Sigrid Graedler Listuen - fiddle
Trude Hagaseth - fiddle
Kari Marte Haugstad - fiddle
Helene Høye - fiddle
Gunn Inga Tofsrud - fiddle
Guro Kjorstad - fiddle
Thea Marie Ytterdal - fiddle
Bjørn Kåre Odde - fiddle
Ingrid Olstad - fiddle
Johannes Selvaag - fiddle
Mari Skeie Ljones - fiddle
Sigrid Stubsveen - fiddle
Ingeborg Ulberg Sommer - fiddle
Ingunn Ulberg Sommer - fiddle
Hallgrim Ulvik Haug - fiddle
Elise Wessel Hildrum - fiddle
