Kode’s composer in residence

As custodian of the composers’ homes Lysøen, Troldhaugen and Siljustøl, Kode cares for a substantial and important part of Norway’s musical heritage. By appointing a composer in residence, we highlight the work of composers who are active today.

The scheme was launched in 2021, and each of the invited artists has their own ideas about how to use the time at Kode. Earlier composers in residence have been Wolfgang Plagge (b. 1960) and Rebecka Sofia Ahvenniemi (b. 1982). In 2023 the role is filled by Ørjan Matre (b. 1979).

Music is an art of the moment

Throughout the year, the composer in residence helps to shape the museum’s programme by curating unique concerts and arrangements that reflect their personal ideas and visions. The composer in residence is also commissioned to deliver an entirely new work, to be premiered towards the end of the year.

For Christian Grøvlen, director of the composers’ homes, cultivating contacts with music that is being written today is a powerful tool for communicating the importance of the homes in his charge.

“It is all too easy to adopt a retrospective gaze when dealing with music, but music is an art of the moment. It captures people’s feelings and thoughts, here and now. Contemporary music can help us to understand who we are now and who we have been,” Grøvlen says.

Kode’s composer in residence in 2023

Kode is proud to announce Ørjan Matre as its composer in residence for 2023.

Born and still resident in Bergen, Matre is one of Norway’s foremost living composers. He belongs to a generation of Norwegian composers who adopted large orchestral formats early in their careers. Since his breakthrough work “Four miniatures for orchestra” (2005), Matre has explored a broad spectrum of musical genres. His list of compositions includes works for solo instruments, chamber, choral and electro-acoustic music.

Matre is constantly challenging his technical skills with fine-meshed, risk-happy instrumentations, or by introducing quotations, instruments and playing techniques that undermine established musical conventions. His solid craftsmanship helps to guarantee regular performances and to attract a growing international audience. Matre won the Spellemann prize for composer of the year in 2015 and 2018. In 2022 he received the Music Publishers’ Prize.

The commissioned work by this year’s composer in residence will be performed in Troldsalen on Friday 24 November.