Det utstrakte

A conductor before herself

In Det utstrakte, conductor Nina T. Karlsen takes the stage alone – without a choir, without a score. She conducts from memory: fragments of choral works, songs, and vocal traces that have shaped her through a lifetime of rehearsals and performances.

With her hands, face, breath, and gaze, she summons what was once sung. Stillness is filled with presence. Her breath resonates with the echo of the church. Something stirs, even before a sound is heard.

When the choir eventually enters, they step into a space already charged with imagined sound – shaped by one person’s gestures, attentive listening, inner hearing and imagination. Here, another kind of music begins to unfold: one born of memory, attention, shared presence, new stories and contexts, and the resonance of the room itself.

Det utstrakte is developed by conductor Nina T. Karlsen and composer, stage director, and scenographer Erik Dæhlin, in collaboration with The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Ensemble 96, and choreographer Kari Anne Bjerkestrand.

A staged performance that takes silence seriously, it explores the conductor as a musical, theatrical, and social figure. A quiet, attentive experience that asks:

How much music can a single body hold?

In collaboration with
Norges musikkhøgskole
Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival