Geir Johnson (musician)

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Geir Johnson (born June 13, 1953 in Fredrikstad ) is a Norwegian composer , author and initiator of cultural projects in Nesodden near Oslo . His musical work ranges from many years of choir leadership to a brief activity as a singer and keyboard player in a rock band to a performance artist in a multi-artist collective called The TRASH Ensemble .

Live and act

Geir Johnson received his first musical training as a soprano soloist in boys' choirs in Oslo, followed by musical training in piano and singing as well as choir conducting studies with Knut Nystedt . Johnson studied musicology , philosophy and social sciences at the Universities of Oslo and Bergen and received his doctorate there in 1983 . He was visiting scholar at the CCRMA, Center for Computational Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University (1988–1989) and was invited in 2010 as a guest composer by the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio . As a composer, he is largely self-taught and has written more than 60 works for various ensembles, soloists and events.

Johnson worked in concert planning and management at the Henie-Onstad Arts Center in Oslo from the early 1980s and later founded the BIT 20 Ensemble and the Music Factory Festival in Bergen. In the early 1990s he was one of the founders of the contemporary music theater company Opera Vest in Bergen, now the Bergen National Opera . From 1989 to 1995 he was President of Ny Musikk , the Norwegian section of ISCM , which hosted the ISCM World Music Days in Oslo in 1990 . He was co-founder and from 1998 to 2009 artistic director and managing director of the ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival . As a founding member of the Réseau Varèse festival network, he was also involved in the planning and co-development of music projects in many European countries.

Since 2003 he has been developing the Parkteatret , a multi-purpose concert hall with around 250 events per year in downtown Oslo. Since 2005 he has been the founder of "Transposition", a large-scale music cooperation and development project for twelve leading music institutions in Vietnam and Norway, and has continued this work in the HEDDA Foundation by helping to build a new building for the Gitameit Music School in Rangoon ( Myanmar ) contributed.

Johnson has lectured at Nordic universities, academies, and international conferences on key issues in the music and art of the 20th century, and has published essays, articles, and reviews on topics ranging from pop music research to the contemporary music scene, cultural issues and politics, in around 100 journals, magazines and newspapers worldwide.

He has received several grants and awards. In 2002 he received the Fegersten Foundation Music Prize for his lifelong contribution to Norwegian music and in 2015 was honored with a medal by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Hanoi for his contribution to the development of Vietnamese musical life. In 2016 he was awarded the TONO Outreach Prize from the Norwegian collecting society.

In 2015 Johnson published the book Vietnam Overtures, a collection of articles on the history and development of transposition .

Johnson has also served on the boards of a number of Norwegian cultural institutions and organizations. Since 2015 he has been chairman of the board of the multicultural MELA festival in Oslo and of the classical music festival Valdres Sommersymfoni .

Works (selection)

  • Radar , 1989
  • Divisi for Wind Ensemble and Optional Electronics , 1991
  • Strykekvartett for dansere , string quartet, 1991
  • I Due Martelli for violin and viola, 1992
  • Talking / Singing for Solo Voice , 1992
  • Sentimental Journey for Orchestra, Hommage à Ringo Starr, 1993
  • Slow Emotion for violin, 1998
  • Body Theory for brass quartet and percussion, 2000
  • Engleåpenbaringene for 16-part choir and soloists, 2000
  • The Black Snake for a speaking cellist, 2001
  • Lyriske stykker , String Quartet Vol. 2, 1-6, 2004
  • Bygdin for woodwinds and percussion, commissioned and performed by the Norwegian Armed Forces Orchestra, Bergen, 2011
  • Silent Spring for string orchestra, commissioned and performed by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra , 2014
  • Lopphavet , 2016

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Store norske leksikon: Geir Johnson. Retrieved September 26, 2019 .
  2. ^ Geir Johnson - Biography - Listen to Norway. Retrieved September 26, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Author Beate: Geir Johnson. Retrieved September 26, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Origo.no: scene Parkteatret. December 8, 2005, accessed October 17, 2016 .
  5. ↑ History - Transposition . June 20, 2014. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ Tildelinger jubileumsprosjekt. Retrieved September 26, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Honoring medal “For culture, sports and tourism” to Geir Johnson. November 2, 2015, Retrieved September 26, 2019 (American English).
  8. ↑ Geir Johnson tells ærespris i Vietnam. November 5, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ Geir Johnson he vinner av Tonos Formidlerpris 2016. In: TONO. December 13, 2016, accessed on September 26, 2019 (nb-NO).
  10. ↑ Alan Kinear: Viet Nam Overtures, book review. Chulalongkorn University, accessed September 26, 2019 .
  11. ^ Administrasjon og ledelse Valdres Summer Symfoni. Sommersymfoni.no. Retrieved October 17, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Geir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian composer, author and initiator of cultural projects in Nesodden near Oslo
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Fredrikstad