For sjette gang lægger Århus by til lyd- og tonekunstfestivalen SPOR. Årets festival har temaet Exploded Music og er kurateret af den britiske komponist Joanna Bailie – læs interview
Programmet indholder så forskellige ting som et klaver der holder en tale af Fidel Castro, Periskoper, en frankenstein-violin og uropførelsen af en Bent Sørensen strygetrio.
Med Castro tilbage til revolutionen
Den østrigske kunstner og komponist Peter Ablinger er et af årets hovednavne. Ablinger er kendt for at omsætte alverdens former for lyde og støj til musik. På SPOR festival kaster han sig ud i at omsætte en af den cubanske revolutionsleder og præsident Fidel Castros klassiske taler til tonekunst. Rent teknisk foregår det på den måde, at talens ord via en midi-maskine omsættes til impulser, der driver nogle stempler og aktiverer klaverets tangenter. Det publikum hører er en underlig og tankevækkende blanding af toner og genkendelige ord fra Castros mund.
Periskoper foran Musikhuset
Et andet af årets mere spektakulære indslag står den svenske lydkunstner Åsa Stjerna for. Hun har opstillet en række periskoper på pladsen foran Århus Musikhus og her kan forbipasserende lytte til lydene fra Århus’ vandmiljø – åen, byens søer og Kattegat.
Uropførelser – fra Venedig til Headphone festival
Fredag aften byder på en uropførelse af den danske komponist Bent Sørensens nyeste sats fra strygetrioen ’Gondoli’, opført af Trio Aristos. Lørdag eftermiddag er der spot på unge danske elektronisk komponister, når Rådhusparken omdannes til festival for hovedtelefoner – med live koncerter og nye værker af bl.a. Morten Riis, Jonas Olesen, Karsten Pflum og Rune Søchting.
Lørdag aften byder bl.a. på tre uropførelser af unge kunstnere og komponister: Kaj Aune’s ’Paganini non Ripete' er inspireret af den mystisk-dæmoniske legende Paganini og bliver opført paen hjemmelavet, nærmest Frankenstein-agtig violin som Aune selv spiller på.
»Music, to me, is … the silence that gropes – like yourself – across a black canvas.
In moments, a hissing emerges.
Nuts are cracked.«
Jørgen Teller has a long career as an electric guitarist, vocalist, electronic musician, and performer. He has released records solo as Static Teller and with Jørgen Teller & The Empty Stairs, Kaptajn Ørentvist … He frequently collaborates with local and international musicians.
»For me, music is a non-figurative process that cannot be definitively categorised.«
Kristoffer Raasted graduated as a visual artist from the Media School at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2018 and is currently completing a PhD in practice-based and artistic research. Raasted has been an artist in residence at the Danish Institute in Rome and a visiting researcher at UdK Sound Studies in Berlin as part of his PhD.
»When I search for new music, I search for sound that evokes images in my mind. It is fuel, a gateway to emotion, and my most important writing companion. When inspiration lapses, music is the tool that always jumpstarts it.«
Iain Forbes is a Scottish/Norwegian film director based in Oslo. He has studied film directing at Nordland College of Art and Film and the Norwegian Film School. His graduation film Revisited won a Student Academy Award in 2023. He has previously directed short films such as Snowman (2015) and Semper Fi (2017). His latest short After Dark won Best International Short Film at the Oscar-qualifying Foyle Film Festival in 2024
»Music, to me, is a companion through life, a premise, an excuse, a mystery, an explanation, a point of departure. It is old ideas, overlooked treasure chests, new angles, long concerts, doubt and conviction. It is words, tones, cracked voices, different points of departure, bass in the diaphragm, falsetto in the hair, challenges, rewards, and love.«
Nikolaj Nørlund made his solo debut with Navnløs (1996), an interpretation of poems by Michael Strunge, and released Nye Optagelser (1997) the following year, his first Danish-language singer-songwriter album. He has since worked broadly across music and poetry and is behind around 20 releases, both solo and in various band constellations. Nørlund’s projects range from collaborations with Copenhagen Phil on two orchestral albums, created together with author Naja Marie Aidt. His most recent release is the single »Englenes Park (nu ikke saa dark)«, the forerunner to the album Himlen skiftet ud, due for release at the end of November. In addition to his own work, Nørlund has, through the record label Auditorium, produced and released a number of Danish artists, including Niels Skousen, Ulige Numre, Jens Unmack, I Got You On Tape, and Martin Ryum. He was previously a member of Trains And Boats And Planes and periodically works with the English-language project Rhonda Harris. Nørlund has received a Danish Music Award (2003) and a Steppeulv (2006), both as Producer of the Year, as well as the Niels Mathiassen Cultural Award (2012).
»Music and sound for me is a language, the most present and fleeting one. It’s something that passes through your heart and becomes the past in a second. Music amplifies every emotion, love, happiness, anger, sadness a thousand times over, making me feel everything more deeply and sensitively.«
Sophia Sagaradze is a sound artist, composer, and performer from Georgia, based in Denmark. She experiments with space, multichannel electronics and audio-visual installations. Sagaradze is interested in creating works that explore the boundary between external and internal experiences of space. She holds a bachelor’s degree in classical composition from Tbilisi State Conservatory and a master’s degree in electronic composition from DIEM Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg. In 2022, she received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation’s Talent Award in Composition. Sagaradze has performed in several countries, received commissioned works for ensembles, performed live and created audio-visual installations. She is a founder and artistic director of Aarhus Sound Association (Aarhus Lydforening), Project leader at ROSA and a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg.