Wednesday 30. August
FESTIVAL LAUNCH & DISCUSSION PANEL

Welcome to the launch of VårFEST 2023 - “Crossing Borders”! Get an insight into this year’s program!

VårFEST 2023 promises an extraordinary program with internationally recognized composers and musicians, featuring exploratory vocal repertoire and music theatre.

Join us for a welcome drink, get this year’s program book, and get the chance to win a raffle festival pass. After the program release, we invite you to a discussion panel that delves into the history of improvisation:
"50 Years of Improvising - The improvisation scene in "Norway-US-Netherlands-Hungary-Iran".

Here, internationally recognized composers and improvisers who have been innovating for decades meet with up-and-coming artists to share insights on the music scene’s evolution from the 1970s to the present.

The panel is led by Bjørnar Habbestad, Artistic Director of nyMusikk, Norway’s Center for contemporary music.

Artists on the panel:

Peter Van Bergen from the Netherlands, director, composer, and multi-instrumentalist improviser, founder of studio LOOS, has performed with, among others, Evan Parker and Cecil Taylor.
Miguel Frasconi from New York, founding member of The Glass Orchestra, composer, and improviser, has worked with John Cage and Merce Cunningham.
Kristin Norderval, composer and singer from the US and Norway, board leader of VoxLAB, performed and recorded works by and alongside composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Pauline Oliveros.
Gregory Vajda, composer and conductor from Hungary, a.o. Music Director and Conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra.
Anna Molnár, Hungarian mezzo-soprano, a sought-after performer of contemporary, baroque music, opera, and lied repertoire.
Idin Samimi Mofakham, Oslo-based Iranian composer/performer, co-founder, and artistic director of the Spectro Center for New Music since 2013, together with the Polish composer and conductor Martyna Kosecka.
Torgrim Sollid, Norwegian self-taught traditional folk musician, composer, and jazz musician, known for combining folk music with jazz, and for playing in the Jan Garbarek Quartet and Warne Marsh Sextet.