Edition·S-related performances in the programme include Simon Løffler's Animalia cycle, Jacob Kirkegaard's CROSSFIRE, Mette Nielsen's Månekoncert II, Mads Emil Dreyer's solo percussion piece Repeater, quietus and Bára Gísladóttir: The moon is an eye is a pond and so on and so forth.
Find the full programme of SPOR Festival here.
Simon Løffler: Animalia / Friday 24 May
Simon Løffler has explored the relationship between humans, animals, and nature for several years. It has resulted in a completely unique way of creating music. Animal costumes, animal sounds, and animal props are utilized when Simon Løffler, together with a group of musical performers, examines physical and musical relationships with non-human creatures. The work has been in development since 2019, and it is constantly renewed – for SPOR 2024, there will be at least two pieces premiering.
Simon Løffler's Animalia is performed by Ane Marthe Sørlien Holen, Jennifer Torrence, Inga Aas and the composer himself.
Find more information about the performance here.
Jacob Kirkegaard: CROSSFIRE / 22-25 May
What does war sound like? Does it have a special sound? A tonal language? Jacob Kirkegaard’s CROSSFIRE is created from sound recordings of firearms and artillery, a work that evokes the sounds of a war situation.
In 2022 an orchestral version of the piece, KRYDS ILD. was premiered by the Band of the Royal Danish Life Guards at KLANG Festival, and now the electronic composition behind it can be experienced at SPOR Festival.
Kirkegaard has sought the answers to the questions above through a year of audio research including several visits to the Danish military shooting ranges, as well as to shooting ranges with civilian weapons enthusiasts. He has made sound recordings with sensitive vibration sensors placed directly on firearms and military vehicles as well as with acoustic measuring microphones positioned in shooting ranges.
Jacob Kirkegaard has listened attentively to the mechanics of the weapon, the cutting of the projectile through the air and the deep echo after the explosion of a grenade.
Mette Nielsen: Månekoncert II / Thursday 23 May
"Månekoncert II" builds on the ideas from "Månekoncert", which was premiered at SPOR Festival in 2020. At that concert, the audience was, among other things, asked to write down their dreams and some of these dreams are included in "Månekoncert II".
The performance revolves around the night and all the states that belong to the night – sleep, dreams, drowsiness, insomnia, bad thoughts running in circles. The audience moves freely between the music representing these states, thus forming their own sleep cycle.
Find more information about the performance here.
Mads Emil Dreyer: Repeater, quietus / Sunday 26 May
In Repeater, quietus, Mads Emil Dreyer works with small percussion instruments and electronics. Contact microphones are attached to the instruments, capturing sound, and surface-transducers, a type of small speaker component, that release sounds. This setup creates a series of small, closed circuits where what the microphones capture is sent out by the transducers, then picked up by the microphones and sent out by the transducers again. This process repeats over and over, transforming the instruments into small, independent and quite fragile feedback loops, where the electronic is completely embedded in the acoustic.
Repeater, quietus is premiered by Lorenzo Colombo.
Find more information about the performance here.
Bára Gísladóttir: The moon is an eye is a pond and so on and so forth / Sunday 26 May
Gísladóttir's work delves into abstract realms, offering a dual perspective. On one hand, it transports listeners to different levels of reality – almost as if the listener was traveling by an elevator to new dimensions. On the other hand, it intricately weaves together these contrasting spaces, exploring how they reflect and refract upon each other. Gísladóttir's composition invites audiences to contemplate the interplay between these states, where the moon's glow may be mirrored from a tranquil pond to a watchful eye, blurring the lines between observer and observed, and inviting a journey through an ever-reflective cosmos.
The work is performed by Riot Ensemble who premiered the piece at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2023.