15 years with SPOR
15 years with SPOR
15 Years of SPOR Have Put Aarhus on the Musical World Map
SPOR Festival’s Impact on Denmark’s Role in the International Music Industry
SPOR Festival has significantly influenced Denmark’s role in the international music industry. By attracting major international stars to the country, promoting and advancing the careers of Danish musicians and composers, and educating the next generation of composer talents, SPOR has left its mark on Denmark’s scene for contemporary music and sound art. This is affirmed by a Ph.D. researcher in music, the chair of the Danish Composers’ Society, a Danish composer performing at SPOR for the first time, and a 15-year-old aspiring musician who participated in the SPOR New Music School in 2017.
SPOR Festival is Aarhus’ international festival for musical experiences with unexpected expressions that engage all the senses. At SPOR, major international stars in newly composed music meet the freshest up-and-coming talents who will shape the music industry of the future. This year’s festival will take place May 9–11 at various locations across central Aarhus.
The festival has been running since 2005, making this the 15th edition in Aarhus.
“SPOR’s Importance to Denmark’s Music Scene Should Not Be Underestimated”
“SPOR plays a crucial role in the dissemination and development of new composed music in Denmark,” says Anette Vandsø, Associate Professor in Aesthetics and Culture, who specializes in contemporary music and sound art. She continues:
“I have been studying the SPOR Festival since its inception and have worked with newly composed contemporary music and sound art as a field of research. The SPOR Festival’s importance to the Danish music environment should not be underestimated.
The work done by its two directors to connect the field of Danish contemporary music and sound art with the international scene, while also making it accessible to the general public, is invaluable.
Music, like all art forms, needs stages and institutions, but contemporary music and sound art lack a strong support system compared to contemporary visual art. There isn’t much newly composed music and sound art played on the radio or in the country’s concert halls.
However, the SPOR Festival has proven to be an excellent institution and stage. The festival is, first and foremost, stable. It has endured for many years, maintaining a consistently high level year after year and demonstrating a strong commitment and ability to involve the local community in Aarhus, where the festival is based.
Marcela Lucatelli will participate in the SPOR Festival 2019 with two works: the solo performance Run, Run, Run and IMPOSSIBLE PENETRATIONS, which she created in collaboration with the English composer collective Bastard Assignments.
SPOR Takes Responsibility for Future Stars and Talents
Marcela Lucatelli is one of the composers SPOR has chosen to showcase in this year’s program, and she is building a successful musical career. She will perform both the co-production IMPOSSIBLE PENETRATIONS, which she created with the English composer collective Bastard Assignments, and the solo performance Run, Run, Run.
"It is a great honor for me to participate in this year’s SPOR Festival for the first time—and with two of my works, no less. I came to Denmark from Brazil 15 years ago and have been building my career from here. Therefore, it is incredibly important for me to have the opportunity to perform and present my works alongside other composers, representatives of the international music scene, and, of course, the Danish audience. SPOR and I share a passion for bringing new music and sound art to a wider audience and demonstrating that it is a diverse genre with something for everyone," says Marcela Lucatelli.
Andreas Malmgren Asmild at SNMS in 2017.
In 2015, SPOR decided to take on a larger role in nurturing the next generation of composers and established SPOR New Music School, a composition school for children and young people aged 11 to 15.
Today, 15-year-old violinist and violist Andreas Malmgren Asmild, who participated in 2017, is well on his way to a career in new music. He has recently been awarded a grant and will begin at MGK this summer. Reflecting on his time at SNMS, he says:
“I remember the first day of the workshop quite clearly. We were divided into 5-6 groups—each of us was assigned a teacher to guide us and help us write and compose, and we were also given a professional musician who would perform our piece. We tried to create a journey, like sailing a ship—the triangular route from Europe to Africa and America. At first, we improvised and experimented a bit—tried things out—and then wrote things down. In the end, we created a complete composition.”
He continues:
“It was amazing to be part of SPOR New Music School. I look back on it as a great and exciting experience—and really educational as well—especially because I had never done anything like it before. We had to write modern music, which gives you a much deeper understanding of what music is—and what sound is. Music is about expressing emotions—not just the classic ones like love and hate, but also chaos and confusion through tones that don’t immediately harmonize—what we call dissonance. My interest in sound has definitely grown. Absolutely.”
Experiences You Didn’t Know You Were Longing For
The two festival directors, Anna Berit Asp Christensen and Anne Marqvardsen, have a clear mission to maintain the festival’s unique status while ensuring its continuous development:
“The festival has, of course, evolved significantly and grown as well, but we’ve deliberately kept it autonomous and free. It’s an art form that’s difficult to secure funding for, but SPOR is regarded as one of the most renowned and innovative festivals in Europe, and we do everything we can to make it accessible to as many people as possible. Some of the works we present here at the small-scale SPOR deserve to be performed at major institutions like the Royal Danish Theatre, with maximum audience capacity! The works deserve it, and so do the Danish people. We’ve challenged many parameters and norms, such as gender, the concert space, and the hierarchy between audience, musicians, and the stage. Not to criticize, but there are habits in classical music that can hinder the development of the art,” says Anna Berit Asp Christensen.
The plan is, of course, for the festival to continue for many years to come—and hopefully expand its audience so that even more people discover the quality, diversity, and inspiration to be found in newly composed music.
As Bent Sørensen, composer, Nordic Council Music Prize recipient, and chairman of the Danish Composers’ Society, puts it:
“SPOR festival provides experiences you didn’t know you were longing for. Here, you encounter music in countless forms and works that are on the verge of being music. Music and sound in shapes you didn’t know existed but that become something exclusive for everyone—where art and experimentation merge into a sensory whole that you wouldn’t want to be without.”