Ung Nordisk Musik 2021
Current and newly educated students from the Academy play an active role when Aarhus hosts a festival from 9 to 15 August, where all interested parties can get a unique insight into what is happening among young Nordic composers in these years.
At UNM Festival 2021, the audience will experience completely new music and sound art, where some of the works blow up all art genres, while others relate demanding to established artistic trends. The five Nordic countries each present seven works, specially selected by an anonymous and independent jury from each country.
Gender balance
Based on a desire to push for the skewed gender balance in music life in general, the festival has ensured that there is a 50/50 percent gender balance among both composers and the performing musicians. The audience is thus guaranteed a meeting with female composers to a far greater extent than one is otherwise used to.
This year’s theme, “(un) common ground”, refers i.a. to the idea of the Nordic region as a common space, without treating the festival participants as a monochromatic group. Common ground creates communities where uncommon ground is alienating. Common ground suggests equality among individuals, where uncommon ground recognizes the asymmetry of power. The festival’s concerts and other events interact in different ways with the thoughts behind the theme.
75 years with UNM
Ung Nordisk Musik (UNM – Young Nordic Music) is an annual festival that presents the youngest generation of composers and sound artists from the five Nordic countries, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. All composers are under the age of 30 or students at a Nordic music conservatory.
Since the festival began in 1946, UNM has presented a number of the Nordic region’s greatest composers at a young age, including Danish Per Nørgård, Bent Sørensen and Simon Steen-Andersen, Finnish Kaija Saariaho, Swedish Rolf Wallin and many others who have subsequently won big international recognition.
The festival rotates every year between the five countries, in 2021 with Denmark as host and Aarhus as host city and with over 40 works and a total of 16 different events, from concerts to exhibitions, lectures, panel debates and workshops.
The Academy contributes to the festival with i.a. venues for several concerts and other events, several of the festival’s board members are current students and a number of the performing musicians are current or former students. A larger group of students, for example, will be on stage at the concert on 9 August at 19.30 with Aarhus Sinfonietta.
The full program on the festival’s website.
Concerts etc. at the Academy in the Music Hall Aarhus can be found in the Academy’s calendar.