was born on the 22nd of April 1954, in the coastal town of
Stavanger. He studied instrumental education at the Rogaland Conservatory
of Music from 1978 to 1981, and composition at The Norwegian State
Academy of Music from 1981, graduating with a degree in composition in
1986.
Berge is best known for his work in musical drama. From 1974, at the age
of 20, he was involved with the dynamic team working with Ketil Bang
Hansen, whose work in the 70's and 80's took place at the Rogaland
Teater, Den Nationale Scene and Nationaltheateret. Within this group of
productions his music for the Rogaland Theatre production of Peer Gynt in
1978 was especially noted. As a freelance theatre musician, Berge has
worked as musical director, composer and orchestra conductor for all the
major Norwegian theatres, and has composed music for over 70
performances.
In 1987-88 Berge participated in the television production "VOX", a series
of music programs in which central topics from the Norwegian music scene
were explored. In addition to the music and musico-political issues
addressed, the programs, with their emphasis upon experimental editing,
were noted for their distinctive use of the television medium. Two of the
programs, one on the composer Olav Anton Thommessen and the other on
Music and Electronics, were nominated for the Amanda Prize. Another
program from the series, on Sound and the Sound- Environment, won an
award at the short film festival in Trondheim in 1987.
Håkon Berge's theatre background and his work related to television
productions led to the creation of the television opera "Gagarin" in 1991.
The idea of the opera is intrinsically related to the television medium. The
point of departure is one of the first major international events to be
broadcast in Norway- The Soviet Cosmonaut Jurij Gagarin's first mission
into outer space. Parallel to the mission, the piece follows Gagarin's last
tragic flight, including glimpses of his childhood and original footage from
his life. The opera was well-received, with Berge's ability to adjust to the
visual medium being specifically recognized. This production too received
an Amanda-nomination within the category Television-Drama.
Håkon Berge has, in addition to his extensive work for the theatre,
received
commissions from the Society of Norwegian Composers, The Society of
Norwegian Writers, The ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival,
Norwegian Broadcasting and the Norwegian State Opera.
Since 1991 Håkon Berge has been Chairman of the Society of Norwegian
Composers and a board-member of TONO, the Norwegian Performing
Rights Society.
- Howard Gamble, August 1995.
Born 1963, Lodz, Poland.
I have studied at the Lodz Music Academy in the viola class. Currently I
am studying the Composition and New Media at the Staatliche Hochschule fur
Musik und Dartellende Kunst in Stuttgart.
My multimedia performances are carried out through computers and are based
on the programmes of my autorship. What interests me the most in
multimedia activities is the proportionately new group of phenomena
resulting of the following areas: sounds, images, algorythms, and their
interaction with humans.
And now, a short story about my presence in the "World of Multimedia":
WHO-HOW project is an attempt to add the Internet to a group of media
which I have been using until now. The main event of the WHO-HOW project
is the Internet Multimedia Concert, when I will present my audio-visual
piece entitled "AV-Quintet plus many."
"AV-Quintet plus many" is an experimental piece. Its premiere performance
will be at the same time the possibility to check the possibilities to
carry out audio-visual concerts by multiple instrumentalists playing in
numerous places int he world simultaneously, on many stages at the same
time and using the phenomena forming the "Nature" of the Internet.
Born in Warsaw in 1964, graduated in composition under Wlodzimierz Kotonski
and piano under Bronislawa Kawalla abd Szabolcs Esztenyi from the Warsaw
Academy of Music. During his stay at the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts
in Canada in 1988, he turned to computer and video art animation in search
for some uniform audio-visual language of expression. In 1993-95 he studied
audio-visual composition at the University of California in San Diego and
was given a PhD in 1996.
His works were presented at audio-visual and music
festivals in many countries. At the International Video Festival in Locarno
(1993) he won main prize for Catch the Tiger! in the category of performance.
Principal works: Impromptu for tape (1986), Jotayu for piano and tape
(1987), Sonata in the Woods for singing cellist (1988), Mass for soprano,
alto and chamber ensemble (1989), Chagalliana for violin, synthesiser and
tape (1990), Affective Sketches for symphony orchestra (1991), Mondrian
Variations - video (1992), A Glass of water and video show (1993), Catch
the Tiger! for amplified piano and video show (1993), Square One for conga,
Marilyn Monroe's voice and video show (1994), Japatul for drum and video
show (1995), Mudras for voice, piano and video (1996).
