Great plans for future musicals

Inspired by 1950s musicals such as Kiss me Kate and Singing in the Rain, Øyvind Torvund has composed his first utopian musical.

The 2024 Festival composer has been working on his Plans series since 2015, creating musical plans for opera, violin, vocals, and a variety of ensembles. Spontaneous ideas are sketched on paper, and from these imaginative brainstorms, Torvund composes new music. The music is performed with the sketches projected on a large screen, allowing the audience to imagine these more or less impossible situations while they listen.

'The plans are fantasies or dreams. In the musical of the future, one might float around and splatter into a cream pie, tap dance in the clouds, or move through time and space. It's a large spoonful of nostalgia, combined with a sound featuring electronic, abstract elements along with the melodies,' says the composer.

The music is performed by the BIT20 Ensemble, who are closely in touch with Torvund's artistry. Together, they won a Spellemann Award (the Norwegian Grammy) in 2020. They are joined on stage by mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad, Jørgen Træen on synth, and Kjetil Møster on saxophone.

In addition to the new musical, new arrangements of Torvund's Plans for sinfonietta and short excerpts from The Exotica Album, written for the BIT20 Ensemble, will be performed.

Information

​Read more about the Festival composer Øyvind Torvund.

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