Oslo Sinfonietta

Tickets £31 // Concession £25 // Under 30 £5
Advance booking required

Oslo Sinfonietta
Christian Eggen conductor

Rebecca Saunders (UK, 1967)
Skull (2022-23) 35’ UK Premiere

Øyvind Torvund (Norway, 1976)
Into the Blue (2023) 22’ UK Premiere

Norway’s oldest running contemporary ensemble returns to hcmf// to perform a pair of prestigious UK Premieres. Established in 1986 by Norwegian composer Asbjørn Schaathun, Oslo Sinfonietta is now led by artistic director and chief conductor Christian Eggen who presides over an ensemble of freelance musicians and members from the country’s most prominent orchestras. The ensemble is recognised for a level of quality and flexibility that capably meets the demands of modern repertoire, its members sharing a passion for testing and experimenting with musical and instrumental expressive possibilities. Since its inception, Oslo Sinfonietta has played an active part in the development of new music through commissions and concert productions, recordings and cross-genre collaborations within music theatre, visual and performance arts, both in Norway and abroad.

The ensemble will perform leading international composer Rebecca Saunders’ Haruki Murakami-influenced, “wildly impressive” (Seismograph) composition Skull, which completes her triptych of works following Skin and Scar. This is programmed alongside a new work from Norway’s Øyvind Torvund, a strikingly imaginative contemporary composer whose influences include juxtapositions, oppositional approaches and perspectives, and indeed his own history as a guitarist in rock groups.

Produced by hcmf// supported by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the hcmf// Friends

Skull is co-commissioned by Ensemble Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Ensemble Contrechamps, Festival Acht Brücken | Musik für Köln and La Biennale di Venezia; supported by Arts Council Norway

Into the Blue is commissioned by Oslo Sinfonietta with funding from the Norwegian Composers’ Fund

Photo: Oslo Sinfonietta © Anna Julia Granberg