Det danske sommervejr minder os – på godt og ondt – om, at det er tid til at holde fri og koble af. Ferien er oplagt til at få læst og lyttet til nogle af de ting, der måske ikke er tid til i en travl hverdag, og her bidrager Seismograf med en god stak indhold til lidt digital sommerfordybelse. Vi holder lukket i juli, men går ikke på ferie uden at sikre os, at der er masser af lytte- og læsestof på både dansk og engelsk til at holde hele sommeren.

Komponister på scenen
Du kan starte med at fordybe dig i 
vores seneste engelsksprogede fokus, der under overskriften Composer/Performer gennem syv artikler beskæftiger sig med komponister, der går på scenen og tilfører musikken nye performative aspekter såvel som en indbygget udforskning og genovervejelse af komponistens rolle. Fokusset udspringer af et forskningsprojekt anført af Sanne Krogh Groth, der også har redigeret fokusset, og de grunlæggende idéer opridses og diskuteres i hendes egen artikel. Norske Trond Reinholdtsen reflekterer over det 20. århundredes komponister, idet han præsenterer sit énmandsprojekt The Norwegian Opera. Juliana Hodkinson genbesøger en personlig krise i sin tekst, mens Niels Rønsholdt identificerer sig med lytteren, når han positionerer sig som fremmed i forhold til sin egen musik. Den femte artikel er en transkriberet paneldebat mellem Louise AleniusKristian Hverring og Simon Steen-Andersen fra Nordic Music Days i Reykjavik. Alenius er tilmed omdrejningspunktet for en artikel af Torben Sangild, som har oplevet en én-til-én-koncert med komponisten i sit soveværelse, der midlertidigt blev omdannet til koncertsal. Musiker, komponist og forsker Henrik Frisk afslutter med at undersøge mulighederne i det amatøristiske aspekt ved komponister, der går på scenen og påtager sig musikalske opgaver, de ikke er skolede til.

Lyt Dybt
Vores podcast Lyt Dybt har netop afsluttet sin første sæson, og der er sammenlagt 15 afsnit om alt fra undervandsoptagelser og hverdagslyd til voksvalser, midi-violiner og lyttemeditation, som du kan give dig hen til, hvis du ikke allerede har gjort det. De seneste afsnit er en del af den serie, vi kalder 
Lyden af planeten Jorden, som helliger sig fænomenet The Voyager Golden Records – to guld-LP'er indeholdende musik og lyde fra vores klode, som blev sendt ud i det interstellare rum i 1977.
I serien møder vi lektor og kunstner Jenny Gräf, mediearkæolog Jussi Parikka, forfattersaxofonist TS Høeg samt kurator og NASA-buff Jacob Lillemose, der alle forholder sig til dét at sende jordlyde ud i rummet.
Søg på Lyt Dybt i din podcast-app eller lyt med her på siden.

Senest på seismograf.org

»Hvis man præsenterer noget meningsløst vrøvl, sker der ingenting.« Søren Møller Sørensen mødte ved et tilfælde en af sine bekendte på et konditori i Cairo – den egyptiske komponist Bahaa El-Ansary. Det kom der et spændende interview ud af.

»Det umiddelbare indtryk af mødet med værkerne forandredes gradvist, og efter et stykke tid udvikler udstillingen sig i retning mod det, jeg opfatter som kernen i de fleste af Norments værker; arbejdet med materialer og titler, hvor lyd ofte er et grundelement.« Andreas Engström anmelder Camille Norments aktuelle udstilling på Oslo Kunstforening.

»Struer Tracks er på mange måder godt nyt for den danske lydkunstscene. Åbningsweekenden tegner i hvert fald et billede af en forfriskende uformel og særdeles vedkommende formidling af et meget bredt udsnit af lydkunst anno 2017.« Jakob Gustav Winckler har besøgt Danmarks eneste festival for stedsspecifik lydkunst, Struer Tracks.

Fik du vist, hvem komponisten Allan er? »Det er det, jeg er lidt i tvivl om. Derfor ville lidt mere musik have været godt,« siger han. »Men personen Allan var der – for første gang.« Læs Sune Anderbergs portrætinterview med debutanten Allan Gravgaard Madsen.

© Tom Ingvardsen

»I listen to music at all hours of the day when I’m at home – surrounded by family – or when I’m working and travelling. My playlist changes every day. It reflects my state of mind here and now, and the ideas, memories, joys and sorrows that currently occupy me. The last piece, Salve Regina, was only added late this evening, after I experienced Poulenc’s magnificent opera Dialogues des Carmélites at the Royal Danish Opera.«

Louise Beck is a scenographer, stage director and artistic director of OPE-N – and from the 2027 season, artistic director of Copenhagen Opera Festival. For nearly three decades, she has developed opera as a living and contemporary art form at the intersection of the established opera field and the independent music-theatre scene. She has created a number of critically acclaimed and award-nominated works, including Den Sidste Olie and LOL – Laughing Out Lonely, and, together with Niels Rønsholdt, stands behind the opera trilogy Den Stærkes Ret – Den Svages Pligt, whose second part will be presented at the University Library of Copenhagen during the 2026 festival.

© PR

»Music is my daily nourishment, helping me become a better person. It's a formula of emotions, full of energy, that gives me the courage to always have hope.«

Nilza Costa is a Brazilian singer and songwriter from Salvador de Bahia and now living in Ferrara, Italy, whose heart beats with the ancestral rhythms of Africa, rhythms she channels through her voice into a singular and deeply original artistic language. Her new album Cantigas – released in February 2026 on Brutture Moderne Records – is inspired by and dedicated to the Cantigas, or Orin, the sacred songs passed down through African languages, in this album Yoruba, Kimbundu and also Brazilian Portuguese. Nilza Costa’s voice has long given life to the revolution of a people who, through music and spirituality, have reclaimed their path toward emancipation. Her songs tell the stories of men and women torn from their homeland — narratives filled with both melancholy and hope.

Throughout her career, Nilza has collaborated with renowned artists such as Roy Paci, Etnia Supersantos, and Senegalese musician Elhadj Demba S. Gueye. With her current band, she has performed on numerous international stages (Austria, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Belgium, Slovenia, and more) and has appeared at major festivals across Italy.

Louise Beck
Louise Beck

When Louise Beck presented her first opera at Copenhagen Opera Festival in 2022, the audience was asked to bring ski wear and thermal suits. Den Sidste Olie (The Last Oil), about the colonisation of Greenland and the exploitation of nature, unfolded on the ice at Østerbro Skøjtehal. It marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration on newly written works that expand the frames and spaces of opera. Now that collaboration enters a new phase: from 1 September, Louise Beck will become the festival’s new artistic director.

»Music for me is peace.« 

Iris Gold is a Danish singer. She was born in London but raised in Christiania. She made her recording debut in 2015 with the single »Goldmine« and has since released a number of singles. Her debut album Planet Cool was released in 2019. She has just released the album Sugar on My Lips.

© PR

»Resonance – music is for me an indispensable inspiring resonance. In music, the big emotions fall into place, and the small ones bubble up. My grandfather introduced me to opera as a child – so loudly that my heart jumped in my ears, and I fell head over heels and deeply in love with these grand and dramatic compositions. Through it, I was introduced to the big emotions in the world – in music there was room for them in a way that I had not experienced anywhere else before.«

Astrid Kruse Jensen (b. 1975) is a Danish visual artist living in Copenhagen. Throughout her artistic career, she has been preoccupied with photography and its relationship to memory. With her poetic shifts of reality, she explores the borderland between the apparent and the hidden, between the real and the imaginary, between past and present. She has exhibited widely both in Denmark and internationally, with exhibitions in galleries and museums – from solo to group exhibitions in Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, China, Korea, Ghana, Canada, the USA and the UK. In Denmark, her works have been exhibited at, among others, the Brundlund Castle Art Museum, Esbjerg Art Museum, Heerup Museum, Rønnebæksholm, Brandts, Aros, Kunsten, Skagen Museum, Willumsen Museum, Sorø Art Museum, Odsherred Art Museum and Johannes Larsen Museum. Astrid Kruse Jensen is represented by Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen and Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm & Gothenburg.