Borealis : Talking Experiments

Borealis – a festival for experimental music

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Talking Experiments by Borealis: A podcast of conversations with composers, artists, musicians and thinkers all engaged in the world of experimental music. Get to know the people beind the music and experiments – spanning the musical, social and political.

05/08/2025

Borealis Mix X Vers Libre: KADAPAT

A fantastic mix by KADAPAT – an experimental gamelan project consisting of Yogi and Barga, based on Bali in Indonesia, made for Borealis – a festival for experimental music in Bergen, Norway and community radio station Vers Libre. Indonesian duo KADAPAT is characterised by their hybrid identities between the balinese traditions and legends, the technological urbanity of the millennial generation and their formal and Western art education. Kadapat explores the intersection of technology and gamelan, asking themselves how they can reimagine the centuries-old practice through synthesised sounds. They typically build their soundscapes around gamelan’s signature trait – a gradual build of layered metallophones, gongs and chimes that produce a disorienting, trance-like state – but these elements have been looped and chopped up for enhanced intensity. Eerie drone, warped synth lines and whiffs of dark techno further contribute to the ominous atmosphere, underlining the duo’s taste for subversive experimentation.
03/01/2025

Introduction to Nara by Tze Yeung Ho

Composer Tze Yeung Ho gives an insight in to the story, motivation and process of the making of his new opera Nara – imperial decline, belonging, and composing in a «third space» all feature in this behind the scenes conversation with artistic director Peter Meanwell. Nara premieres 12th March 2025, at Borealis – a festival for experimental music in Bergen, Norway. Tickets: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/events2025/apningskveld-tze-yeung-ho-nara/ Music: 1st Naamyam, from Nara by Tze Yeung Ho, performed by Gong Strikes One Part of New Perspectives for Action. A project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union
03/17/2023

Borealis Samtale: Future Festivals

As Borealis celebrates its 20th anniversary we ask whether festivals still hold any power through the act of gathering and intense engagement, or whether it’s time for the idea of festival to change? What can a festival be and what challenges will it face in terms of aesthetics, politics and sustainability? Leading the conversation will be BBC Radio 3 journalist and author Kate Molleson, and joining Borealis artistic director Peter Meanwell on stage will be festival directors from across the worlds of contemporary and experimental music. Thomas Schäfer, Director of the International Music Institute Darmstadt (IMD) and Artistic Director of the Darmstadt Summer Course, is in charge of one of Europe most prestigious contemporary classical music festivals. Marie Jeanson is the director of Archipel – an international festival which promotes creation, contemporary music, and all forms of musical research and sound art. Beril Sarıaltun is a musician, sound designer & producer based in Istanbul, Turkey, where she leads the organisation Beats By Girlz Turkey, organising festivals often in opposition to prevailing political conditions. Together they share their ideas and visions, and discuss whether the festival format has a future, and if so what it might look like. Supported by Fritt Ord. Part of New Perspectives for Action. A project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.
03/11/2022

Talking Experiments with Espen Sommer Eide

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence and artist Espen Sommer Eide go deep into Espen’s new work The Waves, which will premiere at Borealis 2022. He discusses how The Waves explores some of the key ideas returning again and again in his work: language and music, building instruments, the form of the album, improvisation, collaboration, and presence and absence. Espen Sommer Eide’s The Waves, runs from 16-20 March 2022 at Christinegaard Hovedgaard in Bergen, Norway. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music
03/11/2022

Talking Experiments with Kristine Tjøgersen

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence and composer Kristine Tjøgersen discuss how she draws inspiration from nature in the creation of her recent works, whether that inspiration is in the form of sound, movement, data, patterns, or behaviours. She shares with us her compositional processes, including how she develops her inventive sound palette, and how she collaborates to realise fully scenographic pieces. She also tells us about the fascinating Bower bird, which is the specimen behind her new work for soundinitiative premiering at Borealis 2022. Kristine Tjøgersen’s BOWER receives its Norwegian premiere at Kulturhuset i Bergen, in Bergen, Norway on the 20th March 2022. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music
03/11/2022

Talking Experiments with Catherine Lamb

In this episode of Talking Experiments, host Jennifer Torrence chats to composer Catherine Lamb about her desire to create pieces that evoke a sense of collective intensity among musicians; about how, as a young composer, she found a sense of belonging through rational intonation; and about how she conceptualises listening and the perception of sound, and in particular the idea of sound as multi-dimensional shapes. Catherine Lamb’s inter-spatia premieres at Borealis – a festival for experimental music on 18th March in Bergen, Norway, and then on the 20th March at MaerzMusik in Berlin, Germany. Talking Experiments is hosted by Jennifer Torrence and produced by Borealis – a festival for experimental music
03/18/2021

Talking Experiments with Andreas Borregaard

Meet musician and composer Andreas Borregaard in our podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Andreas Borregaard is a Danish musician, who plays the classical accordion, an instrument that few people link to classical music. Besides being a performer, he is working on his phD, “Just Do It! – Exploring the Musician’s Use of Bodily Performance”, he is a composer and a teacher of the accordion, and is actively influencing the development of this young instrument’s use and repertoire. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Andreas Borregaard at his home in Copenhagen, Denmark, and hears his story of how he uses the classical accordion together with voice and body in his performances. Andreas will present digital versions of the commissioned works by Philip Venables and Marcela Lucatelli at Borealis 2021. Read more about the artist at Borealis 2021: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/andreas-borregaard-2/ The music in this episode is: - Bent Sørensen: “Looking on Darkness” - Sofia Gubaidulina: “De Profundis” - Excerpt from Niels Rønsholdt’s “Until nothing left”, from the premiere at Borealis 2017 - Eblis Alvarez: “Tango Yo Nunca He Estado In Buenos Aires” (with the group MTQ) - J.S. Bach: “Aria” (Goldberg Variations, BWV 988) (Arr. for accordion) - Marcella Lucatelli, “To Be Free - Drift” Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell
03/12/2021

Talking Experiments with Ricardo Odriozola

Meet musician and composer Ricardo Odriozola in our podcast getting to know the people behind the music at Borealis 2021. Ricardo Odriozola is a Spanish musician and composer, who has been living in Norway since 1987 – a year in which he started to teach violin and chamber music at Bergen's Grieg Academy, where he also conducts a chamber orchestra and a sinfonietta. He performs and composes contemporary and classical music and runs his own record label Amethyst Records. In this episode presenter Christiane Meldgaard speaks to Ricardo Odriozola at a sound studio in Bergen, and hears his mesmerizing story about his way into music and how his way of challenging himself will develop into a varied violin performance at this year’s Borealis. Read more about the artist at Borealis 2021: https://www.borealisfestival.no/en/artists2021/ricardo-odriozola-2/ The music in this episode is: Kenneth Sivertsen: Døtrene – fremført av koret Gneis (dirigert av Tore Kloster), Stein-Erik Olsen og Ricardo Odriozola. Fra albumet “Dragning, chamber music by Kenneth Sivertsen” ARCD 1301 Ricardo Odriozola: Gualdrapas y Diplonduros – fra albumet “Views from my Horse” ARCD 1401 Pasquale Tassone: Nexus II (1982). Skrevet til Odriozola. Fra albumet “Postcards From Arlington” ARCD 1101 Leslie Hurwitz: Sonatine Prudent, Pratique (1983). Skrevet til Odriozola. Fra “Postcards From Arlington” David Jackson & Le Jury: Susie On the Prowl – Le Jury er Einar Røttingen, Jostein Stalheim og odriozola (en improvisasjonsgruppe). Fra albumet “Jaxon Faces the Jury” ARCD 1201 Presented and produced by Christiane Meldgaard Executive Producer, Peter Meanwell

Talking Experiments by Borealis: A podcast of conversations with composers, artists, musicians and thinkers all engaged in the world of experimental music. Get to know the people beind the music and experiments – spanning the musical, social and political.

Creator

Borealis – a festival for experimental music
Years Active

2020 - 2025
Episodes

17
Rating

Clean
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Borealis : Talking Experiments