Oslo Sinfonietta is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. It was founded by composer

Asbjørn Schaatun Asbjørn is a Norwegian and Danish male given name. In 2013, there were more than 7,000 men in Norway with this name. In Norway it reached the peak of its popularity between 1910 and 1930, during which period approximately 1% of children were given ...

in 1986. The current artistic director is

Christian Eggen Christian Eggen (born 8 January 1957) is a Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Dem ...

. Oslo Sinfonietta grew out of contemporary music circles at the

Norwegian Academy of Music The Norwegian Academy of Music (Norwegian: ''Norges musikkhøgskole'', NMH) is a university-level music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the co ...

. Since 1993 it has been organised as a pool of musicians drawn from the

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra The Oslo Philharmonic (Oslo-Filharmonien) is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 187 ...

, the

Norwegian National Opera and Ballet The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

Orchestra, the

Norwegian Radio Orchestra The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norwegian, ''Kringkastingsorkestret'', abbreviated as KORK) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (''Norsk rikskringkasting AS'', or NRK). Its principal base is the ''Store Studi ...

and the local freelance scene. Oslo Sinfonietta showcases important works composed during the 20th and 21st centuries and has commissioned and premièred a number of new works by both Norwegian and foreign composers. Oslo Sinfonietta is one of the founders of the

Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival is a Norwegian music festival for contemporary music. Background Ultima is Scandinavia's largest contemporary music festival, and since 1991 it has been a key arena for contemporary music and related ar ...

. In 1999, the Oslo Sinfonietta won the

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizati ...

award for the album "Boyl" with music by

Rolf Wallin Rolf Wallin (born 7 September 1957) is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist. Biography Wallin was born in Oslo, where he studied with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen. He later studied at the University of ...

. Oslo Sinfonietta performs regularly in Norway and abroad, fx. The

Casa da Música The Casa da Música is a concert hall in Porto, Portugal. It was designed by architect Rem Koolhaas and opened in 2005. Designed to mark the festive year of 2001 in which the city of Porto was designated European Capital of Culture, it was the ...

Festival in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, The Présence Festival in Paris,

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (also known by the acronym HCMF, stylised since 2006 as the lowercase hcmf//) is a new music festival held annually in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Since its foundation in 1978, it has featured ...

, New Music Dublin,

Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse a ...

and The

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Discography

*''Oslo Sinfonietta'' (Aurora, 1993) *

: ''Move'' (Hemera, 1994) * Asbjørn Schaathun: ''Actions, Interpolations & Analyses'' (Aurora, 1995) *

Cecilie Ore Cecilie Ore (born 19 July 1954) is a Norwegian composer. Biography Cecilie Ore was born in Oslo, Norway, and studied piano at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. She also studied piano in Paris, and composition at the Institute of Sonology i ...

: ''Codex Temporis'' (Aurora, 1996) * John Persen: ''Recycles Encore/Arvesøl'' (Hemera, 1997) *

Åse Hedstrøm Åse Hedstrøm (born 17 April 1950 in Moss) is a Norwegian contemporary composer. Life and career Åse Hedstrøm studied music at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Net ...

: ''Flow'' (Aurora, 1998) * Rolf Wallin: ''Boyl'' (Aurora, 1999) * Jon Øivind Ness: ''Dandy Garbage'' (Aurora, 1999) * Bent Sørensen:''Birds and Bells'' (ECM, 1999) * Bendik Hagerup, Trond Reinholdsen, Eivind Buene, Lars Petter Hagen,

Maja Ratkje Maja can refer to: Places * Maja, Croatia, a village * Maja, Banten, a subdistrict in Lebak Regency, Banten, Indonesia ** Maja railway station * Maja, West Java, a subdistrict in Majalengka Regency, West Java, Indonesia * Maja River, a tributar ...

: Faces (Albedo, 2000) * Magne Hegdal: ''Annotations'' (Aurora, 2000) *

Eivind Buene Eivind Buene (born 7 September 1973 in Oslo) is a Norwegian contemporary composer. Biography 1992 to 1998 saw Buene studying pedagogics and composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In 1999 and 2000 he was contemporary music ensemble Oslo S ...

: ''Objects of Desire'' (Albedo, 2000) * Maja Ratkje: ''River Echoes'' (Tzadik, 2006) *

Alfred Janson Alfred Janson (10 March 1937 – 19 May 2019) was a Norwegian pianist and composer. He was born in Oslo as the son of sculptor Gunnar Janson and pianist Margrethe Gleditsch, and was brother of journalist Mette Janson. He was first married to ac ...

: ''A Bible Story'' (Grappa, 2009) *

Simon Steen-Andersen Simon Steen-Andersen (born 1976) is a Denmark, Danish composer, performer, director and media artist. Biography He studied composition with Karl Aage Rasmussen, Mathias Spahlinger, Gabriel Valverde, and Bent Sørensen (composer), Bent Sørensen ...

: ''Black Box Music'' (DaCapo Records, 2014) *

Arne Nordheim Arne Nordheim (20 June 1931 – 5 June 2010) was a Norwegian composer. Nordheim received numerous awards for his compositions, and from 1982 lived in the Norwegian government's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. He ...

Ørjan Matre Ørjan Matre (born 6 December 1979 in Bergen) is a Norway, Norwegian contemporary composer. Biography Matre studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music from 1999 to 2005 with teachers such as Bjørn Kruse, Olav Anton Thommessen, Lasse ...

, Jon Øivind Ness: ''Snarks in the kitchen'' (Aurora, 2015) * Maja S. K. Ratkje: ''And sing...'' *

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; born 13 July 1932) is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein o ...

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end of ...

, Alfred Janson,

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inter ...

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde ...

: ''As dreams'' (BIS, 2016) *

Olav Anton Thommessen Olav Anton Thommessen (born 16 May 1946) is a Norwegian contemporary composer who has been one of the foremost modernist composers in Norway since the 1970s. His main compositions include ''Et glassperlespill'' and ''Gjennom Prisme''. He was a pro ...

: ''The hermaphrodite'' (Aurora, 2016)

References

Norwegian orchestras Contemporary classical music ensembles Sinfoniettas (orchestras) Musical groups established in 1986 1986 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Oslo Spellemannprisen winners {{Orchestra-stub