Poesiscena 2018 – the big in the small.

Poesiscena 2018 presents a very strong program that offers premieres of poetry and music second to none. We have never been able to boast of more commissioned works and the artist gallery speaks for itself. We opened the ball at Baker Walderhaug on Wednesday 26.09 at 8 am with the celebration of Hans Børli’s 100th birthday in pop packaging. And the evening ends with Lars Saabye Christensen and Sondre Ferstad ensemble, record release and premiere of new text in Arbeideren. And so it continues throughout the week. Be there or be gone.

Wednesday 26. August 2018 at 8 and 12 p.m. Hans Børli in a hundred.

Hanne Kolstø / Øyvind Røsrud Gundersen / Viggo Solum

In 2018, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Hans Børli, the forest’s poet and national poet, and we want to connect him with our own modern forest goddess and pop artist from Sykkylven, Hanne Kolstø. Kolstø broke through in 2011 with the album Riot Break, after Morgenbladet art critic Tommy Olsson wrote in a review that «she is better than the Beatles» ^[1] . Kolstø has released an album every year since, where four of them have been nominated for the Spellemann Prize . On all releases, she has collaborated with producer Øyvind Røsrud Gundersen . With an album a year, Kolstø has «helped shape Norwegian popular music». Until her last album, Hanne has sung in English, but it was only when we heard her sing in dialect and about the forest that she became a sparkling clear choice for Poesiscena. «Not a forest does not reach the dream / right branches that breathe out.» Hans Børli is performed by an actor of our own Viggo Solum who is originally from Gjøvik and who will finally get to share his favorite poet. In collaboration with Hanne Kolstø and her regular fellow musician and producer Øyvind Røsrud Gundersen, this can be an experience of the rare.

Thursday 27.09.2018 at 8 and 12

Fredrik Høyer / Bendik Baksaas / Kjetil Jerve

«The Ålesund improvisations»

We are incredibly proud to have got Høyer / Baksaas / Jerve to create the commissioned work «Ålesundsimprovisasjonane». Poet and author Fredrik Høyer together with jazz pianist Kjetil Jerve and electronics artist Bendik Baksaas. In their own way, these three artists work with the moment as a starting point. Together they will present a commissioned work, such as this year an improvised work of poetry and music related to the word «crisis» – and it is as simple as that if you are not there you will miss something big.

Fredrik Høyer is a Norwegian poet, author and stage artist from Drammen, living in Oslo, best known for performing with his own texts on television and radio. He has a great fascination for rap, hip-hop and jazz poetry and he often mixes punchlines and inventive rhymes with humor and playfulness, in oral street poems that mix performance and literature. In 2016, he published the collection of poems Grønnlandssutraen, which was staged as a monologue performance at the National Theater with great success. If you have experienced Høyer once, you will never forget it!

Composer, producer and DJ Bendik Baksaas is one of the foremost in a new generation who thrives very well in the spaces between club music and improvised music. He has shown this through a number of collaborations, whether it is with jazz pianist Kjetil Jerve in the duo Jervaas or in the duo Baksaas + Fredrik Høyer.

Kjetil Jerve is a jazz pianist from Ålesund who plays moves freely between different genres such as techno, jazz, poetry and avant garde with his bands and own solo projects. Kjetil is a curious and deeply plowing artist that we are very proud to invite home.

Friday 28.09 at 8 and 12.

Jan Olav

Jon Olav Sandal comes from Barstadvika and is ready to blow us away. He ran away with the winner as Untouched of the Year on P3 in 2018 with the song Hi, Erna and it was not without reason. For Jon Olav is a young, brave man with a lot on his mind, musicality, personality and warmth. His first album: Young Poetry, released 14. September and with such a title, it goes without saying that he is a self-described guest on Poesiscena. As children, we look forward to Jon Olav charming young and old. There will be a good atmosphere here.

Saturday 29.09. at 8 and 12 p.m.

Jon Ståle Ritland / Nils Petter Molvær

The last couple out during Poesiscena 2018 are Jon Ståle Ritland and Nils Petter Molvær.

Ritland is a daily ophthalmologist in Ålesund and lives a fairly A4 life, but in between he writes poems about tennis and anatomy, DNA threads and other natural sciences. And he writes well, very well! When he comes to Poesiscena, it is important to focus on whether you should keep up with the turns, so to speak. Jazz trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær is known to most of us: World artist and sole landing. Nils Petter is first and foremost an exploratory and open musician who does not say no to challenges. Nothing is too small and nothing is too big. That is why he is at Poesiscena this Saturday with Jon Ståle. This can be a great and memorable experience.

Thursday 27.09. at 7.30 pm.

Minimal – Lars Saabye Christensen and Sondre Ferstad ensemble

Sondre Ferstad Ensemble combines a classical string quartet and a jazz quartet, led by Sondre Ferstad, one of very few professional jazz harmonica players in Norway and Europe. This evening we get to attend a very special meeting between his ensemble and our perhaps most famous contemporary author, Lars Saabye Christensen. Sondre Ferstad Ensemble is currently working on a brand new record, and Christensen has written brand new lyrics – for this music!

This is not the first time Ferstad and Christensen have collaborated. Many will probably remember their warm and fresh contributions to Poesiscena during last year’s festival. The collaboration gave more flavor, and when Christensen and Ferstad were asked by Poesiscena to repeat the collaboration with a commissioned work, they were not late to say yes!

Lars Saabye Christensen needs no further introduction. His international success with, among other things, the critically acclaimed novels Half Brother and the Beatles has made him one of our most beloved contemporary writers. Christensen is also a well-known face on Norwegian music scenes, many have probably become acquainted with him through his many concerts with Buicken.

«Minimal» is the ensemble’s debut album, and is a rock solid business card from bandleader Sondre, who presents himself as a musical minimalist and tone lyricist. The compositions combine calm and friction, and show a sophisticated ability to enclose melodies with a fresh and clear signature. The music reflects Sondre’s influence from the church’s choral tradition and modern Norwegian jazz.

The album will be released 28. September on AMP Music and Records. There will of course be opportunities to pick up a copy this evening, both as a CD and vinyl!

Lars Saabye Christensen – poetry

Sondre Ferstad – harmonica

Vegard Lien Bjerkan – piano

Morten Berger Stai – bass

Wilhelm Westerman – drums

Stefan Penjin – violin

Oliver Leonhard Bailey Dyb – violin

Björn Guo – viola

Astri Hoffmann-Tollaas – cello