Asamisimasa plays Torvund

asamisimasa was founded in 2002 by musicians sharing a passion and interest in avant-garde music and its history. Since then, the ensemble has premiered numerous cross-media works especially written for them, often contextualized with classical repertoire and historical avant-garde work.

asamisimasa has collaborated with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Mathias Spahlinger, Nicolaus A. Huber, Aldo Clementi, Alvin Lucier, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Oehring, Clemens Gadenstätter, Klaus Lang, Johannes Kreidler, Joanna Bailie, and extensively with cross-media composers such as Simon Steen-Andersen, Øyvind Torvund, Martin Schüttler, Matthew Shlomowitz, and Trond Reinholdtsen.

Performances include Berlin Philharmonie – Debüt im Deutschlandradio Kultur, WDR Cologne, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Ultraschall, Ultima, Huddersfield, Rainy Days, Monday Evening Concerts LA, Other Minds Festival (San Francisco) Cutting Edge (London), Angelica and SPOR among others. Their first recording, with music by Simon Steen-Andersen, was awarded the Norwegian Grammy 2012 (Spellemann) for best contemporary music record. Upcoming releases include portrait CDs with Øyvind Torvund (NO) and Laurence Crane (UK). asamisimasa is supported by Arts Council Norway.

Performers:

Ellen Ugelvik – keyboards

Ugelvik works as a chamber musician and soloist throughout the world. She is currently part of The National Norwegian Artistic Research Programme at the Norwegian Academy of Music focusing on the piano concerto of the contemporary repertoire. From 2013-2016 she will premiere five new concerti written for her. Ellen Ugelvik has participated on several recordings and her first solo album won the Norwegian Grammy award in 2008. She has received a state grant for performing artists, one of the most coveted awards in Norway. Ellen Ugelvik studied with Einar Røttingen at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Håkon Austbø at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Steffen Schleiermacher at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Leipzig. Ellen also performs with groups Jagerflygel and Polygon. Ellen’s website

Kristine Tjøgersen – clarinets

Kristine Tjøgersen has a Masters degree from The Norwegian Academy of Music where she studied with Hans Christian Bræin. Her focus is on contemporary music and new techniques for the clarinet. In addition to playing with asamismasa, she is a member of Polygon ensemble, Ensemble NeoN and performs regularly with orchestras in Norway. She has collaborated with numerous composers on new works and performs across Europe.

Tanja Orning – cello

After studies in Oslo, in London with Willian Pleeth and at Indiana University with Janos Starker as a Fulbright Research Fellow, Tanja held the position as a co-principal cellist in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra from 1994 to 2000 when she left for Oslo in order to realise a number of projects as a performer, improviser and composer. Ornings current projects: asimisimasa, Cellotronics (solo), Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Dr.Ox. with Natasha Barrett, Ensemble Polygon and BOA trio with Tora Augestad and Rolf Borch. She plays regularly with the Oslo Sinfonietta and Ensemble Ernst. She has commissioned and premiered some 60 chamber – and solo works by Norwegian composers such as Natasha Barrett, Maja Ratkje, Eivind Buene, Lene Grenager, Olav Anton Thommesen and Ole Henrik Moe. Orning has participated in several recordings of contemporary music and in 2005 she released her solo-CD Cellotronics. In 2000 she received a 2 year state grant for performing artists. She has performed at festivals such as Huddersfield, Ultima, Borealis, Fri Resonans, Kontak, Ilios, Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, Olavsfestdagene, Trondheim kammermusikkfest, Molde jazzfestival, Kongsberg jazzfestival, Vossajazz, Novara Jazz Festival, Shared Sounds (Berlin) and Taktlos (Zürich). Orning holds a PhD degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music in contemporary performance practice, studying and performing works by Lachenmann, Ferneyhough and Feldman. Tanja’s Myspace

Håkon Stene – percussion

Håkon Stene studied in Oslo, Freiburg and San Diego with Kjell Samkopf, Bernhard Wulff, Pascal Pons and Steven Schick among others. 2005-2008 he was selected for the launch programme INTRO for young soloist by Concerts Norway. His solo recording Lush Laments for Lazy Mammal was awarded the Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) in 2014. Solo and chamber performances with ensembles asamisimasa, Pantha du Prince and the Bell Laboratory, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Oslo Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, 2e2m, Rolf Lislevand Ensemble, Barokksolistene and Nils Økland Ensemble include venues such as Debüt im Deutschlandsradio, Donaueschingen festival, Bergen Festival, Wien Modern, Southbank Centre, Venezia Biennale, Warzaw Autumn, Melbourne Music Week, Acht Brücken Köln, Monday Evening Concerts, Ultima, Øyafestivalen, Mutek Montreal, Casa da Música Porto, Red Bull Academy New York, UnSound, Huddersfield, Stockholm New Music, Darmstadt, Primavera and Shared Sounds; tours in Europe, America, Asia and Australia as well as recordings for several labels, Radio and TV. From 2010-2017 he will be working within The National Norwegian Artistic Research Programme at the Norwegian Academy of Music, developing new repertoire for extended percussion. Håkon’s website

Anders Førisdal – guitars

Anders Førisdal studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music where he finished with a Masters Degree on Aldo Clementi´s music. Besides working on solo projects, he has performed in a wide variety of ensembles such as Elision, Plus Minus, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic in addition to asamisimasa. He plays rare multi-string guitars and microtonal guitars and composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, Roger Redgate, Michael Finnissy, Chris Dench, Bryn Harrison, Klaus Lang and Ole Henrik Moe jr. have written works for him. From 2010-2014 he will undertake research in contemporary performance practice within the Ph.D programme at the Norwegian State Academy. His solo recording with music by avant-garde pioneer Bjørn Fongaard will be released in 2014.