NORDLYD
On June 16th of 2019, the first edition of the Nordlyd Festival took place at Kulturhuset in Oslo.
The goal for this festival is to have an arena where we can explore the issues of creation of new concert forms and formats through different genres and music in an atypical space.
Originally inspired by the very location of Kulturhuset, and its three performance spaces on each floor, exploration of the use of space is at the heart of our work in this festival.
The concept behind the festival is to offer an immersive experience to the audience, who will be able to live many different types of artistic experiences, all in one place, while hopefully being offered many different perspectives on the idea of Freedom (the theme of this year's festival) -an appropriate theme for a first-time festival trying to reinvent its own rules!
Our hope is also to break the barrier between the audience and the performers, and have therefore planned some time dedicated to their exchanges in-between the performances.
It is our wish to open a communication channel between audiences and performers which is too often non-existing.
In 2019, Nordlyd filled the house with sounds, lights, video, words...so that the audience was able to circulate freely and to experience music from Couperin to Wagner, Hume to Saariaho, take part in debates, as well as hear four world premieres and multimedia installations and find activities for children.
The name Nordlyd is a wordplay in Norwegian around the words 'nordlys', northern lights and 'lyd', sound. Hence, Nordlyd means Northern Sound, or Sound(s) of the North.
Thus, our mission also is to encourage and broadcast communication between young Nordic artists in a period where the Nordic cultural life is shining ever so brightly in the firmament of Europe and attracting artists from around the world. Inspired by the talent of the colleagues surrounding us, we wanted to build a platform to allow them to share music with us, but first and foremost, with you.
Stay tuned for the second edition of Nordlyd, this time in Helsinki!
Aliisa Neige Barrière, festival director and co-artistic director
Janne Valkeajoki, co-artistic director
UPDATE! Nordlyd now got a little sister, Ilmiö, which will take place on April 24th and 25th in Savonlinna and its surroundings!
For more info, visit www.ilmiotapahtuma.com
Follow Nordlyd on Facebook: nordlydthefestival
and on Instagram: @nordlydfestival
photos: Heikki Tuuli
