Artistic direction with a POING
The Norwegian trio POING will enter the Ultima festival as artistic directors along with Luca Francesconi for 2011. Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, Frode Haltli and Håkon Thelin in POING celebrated their ten year anniversary as POING in 2009. They are a well establish musical tro with a broad repertoire.
Performers of the year
In 2009, POING were also presented the Performers of the year award from the Norwegian Society of Composers.
The artistic director for Ultima, Luca Francesconi, has invited POING into the festival.
- This will be a great opportunity for me to familiarize myself with the Norwegian musical scene, alongside some of the best performers in this field. I regard 2011 as a year of establishing myself in Ultima, and I look forward to get going with this work in the years to come, Luca Francesconi says.
Versatile
As artistic directors, Nystrøm, Haltli and Thelin are exited about making the festival a showcase for a wide horizon of different musical expressions.
- We always had our heart in contemporary classical music, but the arteries reach on to folk music, jazz and commercial music. Improvisation is always there to open doors as a fellow
musician, Thelin explains.
An active reflection
The programming work is well under way. As for now, Thelin can not launch any news from the programme, but he reveals that POING will participate as performers themselves. – We hope that POINGs part as musicians will give the festival a new dimension of vivid communication of the music, challenging performances and an active reflection of contemporary classical music and its relation to other musical expressions. We will do our utmost to carry on with the positive development the festival benefitted from under the direction of Lars Petter Hagen, Thelin emphasizes.
Photo: Ellen Ugelstad