By Malene Rigtrup and Carsten Seyer-Hansen
Choral Works – Developing Cross-Stylistic Choral Music
The purpose of this three-year Artistic and Educational Development Project (PUV/KUV) is to advance the fields of choral composition, arranging, and performance at the highest artistic level. Our ambition is to bridge disciplines and genres within choral music, which have traditionally been divided into either classical or rhythmic/contemporary traditions.
Through the creation and performance of newly composed choral works with a cross-stylistic approach—including new texts by the Danish poet and hymn writer Iben Krogsdal—we will explore and challenge stylistic and genre conventions. Throughout the project, students from the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg (DJM) choral conducting programmes will be actively involved, alongside external collaborators from leading children’s and youth choirs (including Copenhagen Boys’ Choir, Aarhus Choir School/Aarhus Music School, and KORLIV) as well as the professional music scene, including the vocal ensemble Concert Clemens.
During the project’s first year, Carsten Seyer-Hansen and Malene Rigtrup will jointly compose the choral work Støvet synger lys, with a text by Iben Krogsdal. The work will be premiered in two concerts performed by the vocal ensemble Concert Clemens on 10 June 2026 (Hvirring Church, near Horsens) and 17 June 2026 (St. Luke’s Church, Aarhus).
Background
Over the past thirty years, Aarhus has established itself as a national and international centre of excellence for choral singing. A key factor in this development has been the cultivation of rhythmic/contemporary choral music as an independent artistic medium alongside the centuries-old tradition of classical choral music. A distinctive feature of the Aarhus choral environment is the dialogue between classical and rhythmic traditions, fostered not least through the General Music Education programme at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg (DJM), as well as through the strong commitment of local organisations and ensembles to cross-genre collaboration.
Carsten Seyer-Hansen and Malene Rigtrup each come from different sides of the classical and rhythmic choral traditions. Throughout their careers, however, both have explored the intersections between aesthetic approaches, performance practice, and composition with great dedication. Through this interdisciplinary collaboration, they aim to investigate these intersections more deeply and thereby contribute to the continued development of choral conducting, composition, and arranging at DJM.