Word of Mouth: Nordic Music Days comes to Glasgow as the festival leaves the Nordic region for only the 3rd time in its history

Nordic Music Days was established in 1888 by the Council of Nordic Composers; curated by composers and creators, Nordic Music Days now presents almost entirely contemporary classical music and sound, featuring artists from Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland with partnership and exchange being key to the festival’s legacy which is also focused on sustainable practice and social responsibility.

For only the third time in its history, Nordic Music Days is taking place outside the Nordic countries. From 30 October to 3 November, the festival will be taking over Glasgow, and this year’s curator team includes, Tróndur Bogason (Faroe Islands), Lauri Supponen (Finland), Guoste Tamulynaite (Norway), Gillian Moore (Scotland) and Pippa Murphy (Scotland). The Festival is an initiative of the NKR (Council of Nordic Composers) which works in collaboration with the lead partner in Scotland, Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

The festival sees concerts, sound installations, talks, screenings and participatory events as well as a wide-ranging industry programme happening across the city – from Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and The Old Fruitmarket, through the Centre for Contemporary Arts and City Halls to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and Glasgow Film Theatre.

The theme running through the festival is Word of Mouth. It invokes something personal, informal and close: the passing on, movement and the spreading of ideas, stories, knowledge and traditions. Highlights include:

• the opening concert, Qullaq, features the Scottish Ensemble and fiddle player Aidan O’Rourke alongside musicians from Norway, Finland, and Greenland, with music by Jukka Tiensuu (Finland), Seyoung Oh (Scotland), Anna Thorvaldsdottir (Iceland), David Fennessy (Scotland), and a collaboration between Aidan O’Rourke (Scotland), Nive Nielsen, Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen, and Mikè Fencer Thomsen (Greenland)
• the closing concert, Echoes on the Edges, paired with a programme in the Glasgow Cathedral Festival, will bring the drama and philosophy of the Faroe Islands’ Klæmintsgjógv sea cave
  concerts to St Mungo’s Cathedral. A concept pioneered by Kristian Blak
• a world-wide, mass-participation project phōnḗ, a new work for massed choirs by Finnish composer Tytti Arola, underlining the importance and value of communication between people and cultures
• major orchestral concerts featuring:
• BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with An Extraordinary Voyage! including Maja S K Ratkje’s trombone concerto Considering Icarus and music by Britta Byström, Faroese composer Eli Tausen á Lava and a choral work from Hildur Guðnadóttir
• Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Borealis with Swedish composer Anders Hillborg’s Viola Concerto and music by Madeleine Isaksson, James MacMillan and Jay Capperauld
• Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conductor Thomas Søndergård in Rune Glerup’s Dark to Light, plus music by Errollyn Wallen, Aileen Sweeney, and Bent Sørensen along with new work from Lisa Robertson, where the RSNO is joined by the young musicians of Big Noise Govanhill
• Hebrides Ensemble performing alongside Sámi vocalist Ánnámáret and Scottish composer / performer Clare Johnston
• the Vienna-based Chaos String Quartet make their first visit to Scotland, joining soprano Stephanie Lamprea and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s principal double bass, Kai Kim, for the UK premiere of a new work from Greenland’s Arnannguaq Gerstrøm, plus music by Danish composer Sandra Boss
• RSNO’s viola player Katherine Wren founded Nordic Viola in 2016 with the goal of exploring cultural connections between Scotland and the North Atlantic region. Arctic Edgelands is a collaborative music project featuring Katherine Wren, Greenlandic composer and flautist Arnannguaq Gerstrøm and Shetland-based percussionist, composer and sound recordist Renzo Spiteri.
• Finnish composer Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman’s Bálvvosbáiki (meaning place of worship) is a work in which indigenous Sámi yoik is combined with electronic music, Carelian bowed lyre, and video art. Based on the yoiks of the Sámi artist Ánnámáret, this work explores and expresses how the Sámi relationship with nature, the ancient religion of nature, and the Sámi worldview continue to manifest themselves in Sámi life today
• From shops to concert halls to galleries and Glasgow’s parks, Nordic Music Day pops up across the city and across lifestyles to reach audiences on their doorsteps and in their daily lives

The is alos a daily programme of industry focused discussion and presentations, rooted in the concept of sustainability – both environmental and artistic – called NordEX which, among others, will bring Scotland, the Nordics and our neighbours in Canada, Ireland and the Baltics together to look at sustainability in the music sector