Home of Nils Henrik Asheim, composer/perfomer.
To see/hear/buy available CDs go to the CDs page
To hear a random selection of sounds go to the Sounds page
For live projects (piano, organ, collaborations) go to the Projects page
For list of works and info on compositions go to the Works page
Happy New 2012 & a few new sounds.
Sunday, 01 January 2012
[click on sound icons to listen - unfortunately not OK for iPad, but soon!]
…looking back at 2011, the month of March stands out. Two premieres, both of them in Bergen. Yet The Sea Is Never Full was beautifully rendered by Bergen Domkantori and the fantastic Raschér Saxophone Quartet on March 11.
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… the 22nd of the same month, the wind band FMKV (Forsvarets Musikkorps Vestlandet) played Venezia at the opening of Borealis Festival. A piece about being over and under water.
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I had the pleasure of leading a new festival at Tou Scene: Tou Camp. This multi-disciplinary event lasted from May 26 to June 26 and ranks as Stavanger's second best attended festival with 14.500 visitors ... many of them showing up for the outdoor event Tou Tower, where Alf Terje Hana and I gathered 48 guitarists on a 6-floor scaffold to mark Tou Scene's 10 years celebration. We composed the music in collaboration.
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Definitely, 2011 was a year of prizes: First, Mazurka - remaking Chopin was awarded the Spellemannsprisen, the Norwegian "Grammy". If you're interested in the CD: buy on iTunes or buy on musiconline.no. Speaking of CDs, this one was released in 2011: Catch Light, with Peter Herresthal interpreting four new Norwegian violin concertos including my own, with percussionist Peter Kates and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. buy tracks on musiconline | buy CD on Grappa
I was proud to receive the Lindemanprisen, Norway's largest music award, given to a composer every third year. At the prize ceremony, the excellent choir Ensemble 96 performed Spør Havet, to be repeated a few weeks later at their 10 years concert described by Morgenbladet's reviewer "as if the church was a lighthouse in the open sea, with traditional choral singing drifted into vocal percussive elements. At the same ceremony, Trio Valentin played the new piece Game of Three, a commission from Trondheim Chamber Music Competition that had been premiered 5 times in one day of September 23, by 5 outstanding international trios.
Reworking classical repertoire: Kitchen Barokk happened on August 11 at Stavanger Chamber Music Festival, as a collaboration between Stavanger Barokk and Kitchen Orchestra. I arranged and conducted the music, based on Italian baroque grooves. Singers: Elin Aase (baroque) and Stine Janvin Motland (free impro)
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The Mazurka project with Gjertruds Gypsy Orchestra is actively touring: A peak was Music Gardens Festival, Warszaw - 1100 audience members filling a large tent in the middle of the Royal Castle courtyard. We also enjoyed very much to perform at Ultima Festival, at Osa Festival, Voss, in Kabuso, Øystese and St.Johannes Church, Stavanger.
Speaking of Chopin Mazurkas - in September I made it back to the old piano at Ulefoss where the aforementioned CD was recorded, only to record again the same Mazurkas and some more… this time solo, in the original versions. We'll be able to see how it works out on CD hopefully before summer 2012.
As improvising pianist I appeared with ZAS Trio, SS Motsol and Kitchen Orchestra. On the church organ, I performed with singer Anne-Lise Berntsen and gave an improvised solo concert at Fagerborg church, Oslo. I also found some new approaches to the music of Fartein Valen with myself on piano and Lars-Erik ter Jung leading a string ensemble in Haugesund.
During the autumn of 2011 I have been working on two pieces that will see the light of day early in 2012: "Time to be silent, time to speak" for choir an strings, written in the aftermath of the shocking events of July 22nd, will be a part of the opening week of Kilden Concert Hall in Kristiansand. And a collaboration between Russian and Norwegian singers/musicians in February, prepared during my visit to Ensemble Noor in December, under the dark dark winter light of Alta, Northern Norway.
Best wishes for the New Year to everyone and thanks to all of you that lend your ear to my music, for your inspiration!
Asheim får årets Lindemanpris
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Fra nettsiden til Lindemans Legat
Lindemanprisen for 2011 går til komponisten, organisten og pianisten Nils Henrik Asheim (51). Prisen er på 150.000 kroner, og den er den største i sitt slag i Norge.
” Fantastisk! Jeg er stolt over å få prisen, det er en stor oppmuntring”, sier Asheim.
Ifølge juryen har prisvinneren helt siden han var svært ung ytt viktige bidrag til norsk musikkliv. Først og fremst som komponist, men også som en betydelig utøver og organisator.
recording once more at Ulefoss
Monday, 12 September 2011
"Mazurka - remaking Chopin" was recorded on a special instrument: Collard & Collard piano from the 1820s at Ulefoss Hovedgård in Telemark. Searching for recordings of Chopin on period instruments brought few results. Most of them are made on grand pianos, but the square piano (taffelpiano) gives a more intimate sound, still with amazing dynamics. The short decay curve of the sound makes the texture transparent, the registers sound really different, it has a genuine string instrument quality.... All this made me decide for a second recording - undoing the remaking - of Chopin's Mazurkas in original version. Ulefoss is an amazing place where the iron industry still is up and producing after 350 years, and where Nils Aall, Norway's first minister of commerce (from 1814), built his mansion now regarded as the country's most important Empire building.
Musikkforum, 30 august, Litteraturhuset Oslo
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
DISKURS OG POETIKK: Tre komponister forteller om sitt kunstsyn. Med Nils Henrik Asheim, Cecilie Ore og Marcus Paus. Velkommen til høstens første musikkforum der tre fremgangsrike, men meget forskjellige komponister vil presentere og diskutere hvordan deres syn på kunst preger arbeidsprosessen og det ferdige resultatet.
Game of three to be premiered in Trondheim sept 23
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
A new piece for trio (violin, cello and piano) GAME OF THREE is commissioned by Trondheim Chamber Music festival for their international Chamber Music Competition. Nine trios are rehearsing the piece and the performances take place on Sept.23.
Participants:
Fournier Trio (GB/ Korea/ Australia) - Trio 91 (Sverige) - Paul Klee Trio (Frankrike) - Randolph Trio (Storbritannia) - Trio Atanassov (Frankrike) - Streeton Trio (Australia) - Trio Valentin (Norge) - Allant Trio (USA/ Korea/ Canada) - Trio L (Frankrike)
Jury:
Ralph Kirshbaum - Jørgen Larsen - Anthony Marwood - Susan Tomes - Jonathan Kelly - Torleif Thedéen - Pamela Frank
Catch Light - CD
Monday, 15 August 2011
buy tracks on musiconline | buy CD on Grappa
Fiolinisten Peter Herresthal inspirerer norske komponister som ingen andre. På dette artistportrettet møter vi den fremragende musikeren i fire nye norske fiolinkonserter som alle er skrevet spesielt for ham.
Nils Henrik Asheims CATCH LIGHT, konsert for fiolin, slagverk og orkester har gitt navn til CD'en.
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Herresthals posisjon i miljøet for samtidsmusikk er unik. Med sin store kapasitet og stilistiske forståelse er han i ferd med å bygge opp et repertoar av nye norske fiolinkonserter, først og fremst med komponister fra sin egen generasjon. Stilmessig opererer Ness, Kverndokk, Hellstenius og Asheim svært forskjellig. Innenfor denne store bredden av uttrykksformer er det fascinerende å høre hvordan Herretsthal binder det hele sammen med sin personlige, rene og avklarede fiolinklang.
AURORA ACD5066 - CATCH LIGHT.Peter Herresthal, violin. Peter Kates, percussion. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, cond.: Peter Szilvay
Two new works in Bergen in March
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
"Skremmende aktuell", Bergens Tidende comments before the premiere of Venezia which is a piece about a city over and under water. FMKV wind orchestra is playing under Peter Szilvay. In the stage setup the orchestra is divided in two facing halves, which should create a monumental stereo effect in the medieval Håkonshallen.
Less than three weeks ago Bergen Cathedral Choir (Bergen Domkantori) premiered "Yet the sea is never full" together with the Raschér Saxophone Quartet. The performance was excellent and we look forward to the CD recording that was made the day after the concert.
Spellemannsprisen 2010
Wednesday, 09 March 2011
Thanks for 2010 !
Thursday, 30 December 2010
... a quick look back on this year ... when I had the pleasure to work with so many excellent musicians, as the 22 solo string players that premiered my Concerto Grosso in Bergen on June 2 ... the strings of Oslo Philharmonic performing Chase ... and the Norwegian/British ensemble Paulus Barokk that together with Nordic Voices presented my new Interludes for Buxtehude.
... at the Ultima festival, Laila Goody did a moving performance of musical drama "Grader av hvitt" (Degrees of White) along with the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra in Scene 2 of the Norwegian Opera ... from this, NRK2 TV showed a few clips, as from the Resonans performance outside Stavanger Cathedral ...
... at the place where this TV interview was shot, Tou Scene, I presented the document "Tou Visjonen" in March. Since then, my work at Tou has been limited to being a seat in the board. Though, as leader of Ny Musikk Stavanger I managed to present a few nice events here, f.ex the new Vårkonsert (Spring Concert).
"Mazurka - remaking Chopin" was released in September to very good critics, followed by a short tour of Scandinavia and Germany with Gjertruds Gypsy Orchestra I feel this project is just the start of a new obsession with classical repertoire ...
... let me also mention the Orgelnatt (Organ Night) concept, launched with success in May, in Stavanger, Trondheim and Oslo. To be developed! Paal Nilssen-Love and I also did a duo at Kongsberg Jazz Festival
... and on organ solo, I did a workshop/concert in Belgrade (Oct) and solo concert in Århus (Dec). Improvisation concerts also happened with Øystein Birkeland at Oslo Church Music Festival (March) and Günter Heinz at the Silbermann Organ celebration in Freiberg (Nov) ...
.. free improvised piano was played with ZAS trio, S/S Motsol and Kitchen Orchestra. Guest appearences on melodica at Zang's christmas concert and with Baktruppen in Rotterdam (June).
... the first new work to be premiered in 2011, for Bergen Cathedral Choir and the Raschér Saxophone Quartet, is written in the new studio in my garden. A welcome change of environment: farewell Bjergsted and Sandvigå 24, my working place since 2001. The dedicated white room is the new place. See below how it developed from demolishing the garage...
... so this is where you visit me in 2011 ! Thanks for 2010 and looking forward to new encounters.
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