A Sea of Voices: Ars Nova Copenhagen

June offers a unique opportunity to hear four of the foremost choirs of the Nordics in one place in Oslo! Welcome to the mini-festival A Sea of Voices.

From 3rd to the 5th of June, the city will be filled with choir music of the highest order, featuring Helsinki Chamber Choir, Ars Nova Copenhagen, The Norwegian Soloists' Choir og Eric Ericson Chamber Choir.

In the festival's final concert we get to hear Danish Ars Nova Copenhagen. The ensemble is widely recognized as one of the world's finest of its kind, specializes in the interpretation of the polyphonic choral music of the renaissance and new vocal music.

Program

Caroline Shaw (f. 1982): How to fold the Wind
Nicholas Maw (1935–2009): One foot in Eden still I stand
Robert Pearsall (1795–1856): Lay a garland
Vaughan Williams (1872–1958): The Turtle Dove
John Frandsen (f. 1956): Weather4Casts
James MacMillan (f. 1959): The gallant weaver
Trad., arr James Erb (1926–2014): Shenandoah

One Foot in Eden

This concert, presented by Ars Nova Copenhagen, offers a thought-provoking journey through the evolving relationship between humans and the natural world. Spanning centuries of musical composition, the concert explores how art reflects this evolving relationship.

The program takes its name from Nicolas Maw's hauntingly beautiful One foot in Eden still I stand (1990), a profound reflection on the impact of industrialisation on our connection with nature. Wind and weather are the inspiration for two pieces that could be seen as different takes on this detachment, Caroline Shaw's enigmatic How to fold the wind (2020) and John Frandsen's Weather4Cast (2014), which incorporates actual weather forecasts in a prosaic and ironic way.

This modern perspective on nature is balanced by a selection of pieces that evoke an older, more intimate relationship with the natural world. Nature is used here as a metaphor to express complex human emotions such as loss, hope, longing, and joy. Several of these pieces draw on traditional folk songs of the English-speaking world, with Vaughan Williams's The Turtle Dove (1924) and James MacMillan's The gallant weaver (1997) serving as notable examples.

Through this journey of contrasts, the program invites us to reflect on our own relationship with the natural world and to consider how we might rediscover a sense of connection and awareness in our own lives.

Festival pass

With a festival pass you get admission to all four concerts for NOK 700. Purchase before may 1st and the price is NOK 500. Read more and buy a festival pass here.

This project is a part of The Nordic Choir Expedition, that takes place from 1.-9. June in the Nordic capitals. Before Oslo, the choirs visit Helsinki. After that comes Stockholm, before the tour ends in Copenhagen.

This project is funded by Creative Europe, Nordic Culture Point and Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.