Björk, one of the world’s leading and most important artists of the past 30 years, is coming to Olavsfest and Kristiansten Fortress.
BJÖRK ORCHESTRAL
With the Trondheim Soloists
Kristiansten Fortress, 30 July 2022
Olavsfest is immensely proud to present none other than BJÖRK in Trondheim for the first time.
At Kristiansten Fortress on Saturday, 30 July 2022, we’ll get to meet a unique artist who over the course of several decades has influenced popular culture and eradicated boundaries with her restless creative urge and uncompromising integrity.
Høsten 2021 startet Björk et nytt kapittel i en eventyrlig karriere gjennom fire «Björk Orchestral»-konserter på Island i oktober. I år tar hun med seg konseptet på turné til USA og Europa, og det er ekstra gledelig for oss i Olavsfest å presentere henne sammen med byens egen stolthet The Trondheim Soloists, som selv er en internasjonal størrelse og kapabel til å matche selveste Björk. Til sammen har de to aktørene på scenen svimlende 28 Grammy-nominasjoner (15 til Björk, 12 nominasjoner og én pris til Trondheimsolistene).
Ikke nok med dét! Før Björk går på scenen får publikum oppleve Kyiv kammerkor, som kommer rett fra Ukraina til scenen på Festningen!
Kl 19: Dørene åpner
Kl 20: Kyiv kammerkor
Kl 21: Björk med Trondheimsolistene
– Lyden av rå følelser
Björk has presented her songs with orchestral backing on earlier occasions with great success, including a special version of the dark, but powerful breakup album “Vulnicura” (2015) recorded with an arrangement for strings. In this connection she offered the following perspective to Sinfini Music:
«For me, strings stand for the nerves of the human bodies. The voice and wind instruments are the lungs. Beats are for dancing and your heart pumping, but when you stroke stringed instruments, it’s like your nerves vibrating. It’s why we sympathise so easily with strings, I think, especially when you’re going through painful stuff. You just want to grab a clip-on mic and get that… ‘urrrrrrrrr’. It creates this angsty, almost uncomfortable sound – the sound of really raw emotion.»
The Trondheim Soloists are providing a large cast of string players for the occasion.
“We are very much looking forward to working with Björk,” said Steinar Larsen, managing director of the Trondheim Soloists.
“She has remained one of the world’s most distinguished artists over several decades, and clearly it is of great importance for us to get to play with her and to know that she wants to work with us — and extra enjoyable that it will happen as part of Olavsfest. Indeed, the Trondheim Soloists are a genre-independent orchestra, and with Björk,” Larsen pledges, “this concert will guaranteed be something out of the ordinary.”
A Pop Star Against Her Will
Björk released her debut album “Björk” at age eleven, and as vocalist of Sugarcubes she made a name for herself among indie pop fans all over the world.
But her big solo breakthrough came with “Debut” (1993), regarded by many as the most important and best album of the ‘90s and a sensation followed by the equally artistically and commercially successful “Post”. Together these two albums gave her a pop star status she neither sought nor liked.
A number of negative episodes with an annoying media and aggressive fans caused her to withdraw from the limelight — the incidents also influenced the musical path she subsequently chose to follow. Her career became more low-key and introspective, with the electronically-based “Homogenic” (1997) and the softer “Vespertine” (2001) as colossal early highlights. The conceptual became steadily more important as Björk dug deep in her exploration of technology and sound images — as found on the vocally based “Medúlla” (2004) and the interactive “Biophilia” (2011).
Björk has earned herself the freedom to shape a career that extends from the dance floor to the screen and the art gallery. From pop refrains to avant garde — often on the same album and in the same song.
An Artist Like No Other
Indeed throughout her career, Björk’s lyrics and music clearly have been rooted in Iceland’s unique windswept and volcanic landscape — intensified by a childhood close to nature — but at least equally so in hypermodern technology and urbane artistic expression. Whether a sound image that is continuously ahead of its time or a visual expression that never ceases to surprise and fascinate us, Björk is much more than an artist, she is, to an even greater extent, a multi-artist and an art installation.
Nevertheless, at the core of everything she does, independent of packaging and means: Björk always wears her feelings on her sleeve. Whether in heartbreak, love, anxiety or euphoria — Björk engulfs our souls with a rare raw and intense presence. After 30 years, Björk’s sound is still like no other.
She will sound equally unique with the Trondheim Soloists at The Fortress on 30 July 2022, in what will be an extraordinary and unpredictable, yet magically delightful evening. Björk is coming to Trondheim — at last!
Björk:
- Born 1965 in Reykjavik.
- Released her debut album “Björk” at age eleven.
- After having been in several other bands, including Tappi Tikarrass and Kukl, she co-founded Sugarcubes in 1986. The band found a significantly international audience and became Iceland’s foremost rock music export up to then.
- Debut solo album “Debut” was released in 1993. Has released ten studio albums, a number of remix and live albums, together with two film soundtracks.
- Crowned Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000 for her role as Selma in Lars von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark”.
- Has sold between 30 and 40 million albums.
- Has had 22 Top-40 hits in Great Britain, and three Top-10 hits (“It’s Oh So Quiet”, “Army of Me” and “Hyperballad”).
- She has won five BRIT awards and been Grammy-nominated 15 times.
- In 2015 she made Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
The Trondheim Soloists
- Chamber orchestra established in 1988 by violinist and professor Bjarne Fiskum.
- Was offered as an opportunity to students at the Trondheim Conservatory of Music.
- Soon gained international recognition from concert tours in England, France, Germany, the USA, and other countries.
- Toured a number of times with star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and have released two albums with her.
- Øyvind Gimse took over as artistic director in 2002. He was succeeded by Geir Inge Lotsberg in 2017.
- Won a Grammy for «Lux» and have been nominated an additional 12 times. Have won ‘Spellemannprisen’ (Norway’s Grammy) three times.
- They are genre-independent and have collaborated with everyone from international classical music celebrities to rock acts like Motorpsycho and Åge Aleksandersen.
- The orchestra has become professionalized over time, while maintaining its youthful energy, creative enthusiasm and boldness.
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