The Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic ( no, Arktisk Filharmoni, links=no) is an orchestral institution based in

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

and

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...

, Norway. Since its founding in 2009, as The Northern Norwegian Opera and Symphony Orchestra, it has become one of Northern Norway’s largest and most active cultural institutions, performing opera and concert productions in various formats each year. The Arctic Philharmonic alternates between different ensemble formats on a regular basis, from small chamber groups via the Bodø-based sinfonietta and Tromsø-based

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

, to a full

symphony 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, ce ...

that brings all the performers together.

Christian Lindberg Christian Lindberg (born 15 February 1958) is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer, Biography Early life and career Lindberg was born in Danderyd. As a youth, he learned to play the trumpet, and subsequently began to learn the trombone ...

was the inaugural Principal Conductor of the orchestra, serving until 2018. In 2019,

Christian Kluxen Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...

became Principal Conductor. Tim Weiss is the

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

for stand-alone performances of the sinfonietta subset of strings and wind instruments, while Henning Kraggerud is the artistic director for stand-alone performances of the

subset of strings from the Arctic Philharmonic. The Arctic Philharmonic collaborates with other musicians in the region and has cooperation agreements with the Norwegian Armed Forces’ Band North and Landsdelsmusikerne i Nord-Norge.

Ownership, board and management

Built on the former Tromsø-based Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic was created as a new organisation, owned 50% each by Tromsø City Council and Bodø City Council. The county councils of

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

and

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...

are contributing partners through the Cultural Agreement for Northern Norway. The Board of Directors comprises eight members and two substitutes. The Chair of the Board is Tor Arne Viksjø and the Deputy Chair is Nina Hjorth.

Albums

The orchestral institution has made several recordings with

BIS Records BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden. BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings. ...

, Naxos and Simax. In addition to their own albums, they have collaborated on album productions with

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Kari Bremnes Kari Bremnes (born 9 December 1956) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. She got an MA in language, literature, history and theatre studies from the University of Oslo, and worked as a journalist for several years before deciding to dedicate h ...

Jon Larsen Jon Larsen (born 7 January 1959) is a gypsy jazz guitarist, record producer, painter, and amateur scientific researcher. He is the founder of the group Hot Club de Norvège. In 2007 he received the Buddy Award for his lifelong contribution to ...

Terje Nilsen Terje Nilsen (26 November 1951 – 20 March 2019) was a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Nilsen's greatest hit is the song "Mjelle", written in 1974, and appearing on the album "Æ" released in 1977. It later appeared on the album "Kanskje", rel ...

, Unni Wilhelmsen,

Hekla Stålstrenga Hekla Stålstrenga is a Norwegian folk and folk rock band specializing in North Norwegian traditional music. It was formed in 2008 as a duo by fiddler Ragnhild Furebotten and guitarist Tore Bruvoll. They had their first recording as a duo, for whi ...

, Glød, Anneli Drecker, A-ha and Mannen som stoppet Hurtigruta.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Norwegian opera companies Norwegian orchestras Symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 2009 2009 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Bodø Musical groups from Tromsø