Contemporary music in Norway is a field that combines vibrant activity with a wide international reputation. Besides being innovative creators and performers of composed music, Norway’s younger generation of composers and musicians are also venturing into improvisation, jazz, 'noise' and mixed media arts. There is also a small but growing interest in contemporary fiddle players (see section on Folk music and dance).

Notable among contemporary Norwegian composers having achieved international acclaim are Arne Nordheim (b1931), Lasse Thoresen (b1949), Olav Anton Thommessen (b1946), Rolf Wallin (b1957), Cecilie Ore (b1954), Sven Lyder Kahrs (b1959) and Jon Øivind Ness (b1968). Young and aspiring Norwegian composers with growing international exposure are Maja S K Ratkje (b1973), Eivind Buene (b1973) and Lars Petter Hagen (b1975). Ratkje and Wallin are the foremost examples of artists combining the roles of composer and performer.  

During the 1980s several professional contemporary music ensembles emerged from Norway. Today groups such as Cikada, BIT 20 Ensemble, and the Oslo Sinfonietta are counted among Europe’s finest, regularly performing in international festivals for contemporary music and working with composers from all over the world. Later groups such as the trio POING and the percussion trio SISU emerged, along with excellent soloists such as the accordionist Frode Haltli. Norwegian conductors such as Christian Eggen and Rolf Gupta receive invitations to work with ensembles such as the Parisian Ensemble InterContemporain and Germany based MusikFabrik.

A significant event in the history of contemporary music in Norway was the founding of the ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival in 1991, which followed the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM)'s location of its festival World Music Days to Oslo in 1990. Over the last 15 years Ultima has grown to be an important international arena for contemporary music and related art forms. Ultima cooperates with festivals all over Europe, presenting Norway’s finest performers and composers of new music and inviting international composers and performers to Oslo every year.

In Bergen the Autunnale - Bergen Festival of Contemporary Music and the Music Factory Contemporary Music Festival were merged in 2004 to become the Borealis Contemporary Music Festival. In 2005, Oslo will welcome a new mini-festival for contemporary music called Happy Days, initiated by New Music (Ny Musikk), the Norwegian section of the ISCM. New Music is also involved in several local festivals for contemporary music, such as the ILIOS Contemporary Music Festival in northern Norway. Founded in 1936, Ny Musikk has regional branches in nine Norwegian cities, as well as housing the Cikada Ensemble and an association for young composers. Contemporary music also forms an increasing part of the programmes of many local festivals, ensembles and orchestras such as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra or the annual chamber music festivals in Risør, Stavanger and Trondheim. Two Nordic biennales of contemporary music, the Nordic Music Days and the Young Nordic Music (UNM), move between the Nordic countries, thus also regularly coming to Norway. The Nordic Music Days were held in Norway in 2004, and are planned for Iceland in 2006.

Norway’s first composition class was established in Oslo in the late 1960s by the composer Finn Mortensen. Today, the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and the Grieg Academy in Bergen teach composition at bachelor and master levels. The computer music studio NoTAM (Norwegian Network for Technology, Acoustics and Music) was established in 1993 and assists composers, sound artists and students in the fields of acoustics, computer assisted composing and digital sound processing. NOTAM cooperates with the musicology departments at the universities in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim.

Norway also has vibrant electronic music, ‘noise’ and improvised music scenes, all of which form a part of the contemporary music sector. Improvisation artists like Ingar Zach, Ivar Grydeland and the SPUNK Ensemble consisting of three composer-performers and a jazz musician, as well as noise artists like Jazzkammer, Supersilent and the duo Fe-mail, also contribute to this sector. Improvised music and Electronic music also have their festivals: the All Ears Music Festival in Oslo (improvisation), the Safe As Milk festival in Haugesund (experimental electronica) and the Numusic Festival of electronic music festival in Stavanger.

Edited from a text written by Hild Borchgrevink of the Music Information Centre (MIC). Please click on the link for details.