Øyvind Torvund

Øyvind Torvund (born 1976) is a Norwegian composer.

Torvund was born in Porsgrunn. He studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo) with Bjørn Kruse and Ivar Frounbergand, as well as at Universität der Künste (Berlin) with Friedrich Goldmann. Equally important is his background as a guitarist in rock and improvising groups. He has ongoing relationship with groups such as asamisimasa (Norway), Oslo Sinfonietta and Plus-Minus ensemble (UK), as well as the video artist Yorgos Sapountzis.

Torvund has been a composer in residence for Oslo Sinfonietta, written pieces for ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble Zwischentöne, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Plus Minus ensemble and Yarn/Wire. His pieces have been performed in Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik, Ultraschall, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Transit festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Other Minds festival and at the Darmstadt International Ferienkurse.

Key Torvund works includes "Giants of Jazz" (sax, accordion, double bass). "How Sound Travels" (orchestra), the improvisation series "Bandrom", "Tune Park" (chamber ensemble), "Wolf Studies" (sextet), "Forest Construction" (chamber ensemble), "Krull Quest" (cello, electronics) and "The Stacks " (quartertone marimba or cello and electronics).

Although some of Torvund's works, such as the Nono and Scelsi inspired orchestral piece How Sound Travels (2006), are easily located under the umbrella of contemporary classical music, many of his pieces combine sounds and concepts from other musical traditions. In Power Art (2006), for soprano, guitar and 2-stringed bass, the bass instrument is built by the performer and the piece "is reminiscent of the musical feel of hardcore power trios like Black Flag, even if a song by Henry Purcell is the piece’s foundation." In Album Cycle (2004) for 9 instruments, he "layers typical Baroque figures, the décor of garish 1980s pop, and stereotypical free jazz riffs, resulting in a tableau of musical ornamentation crossing styles and eras, oscillating between the exalted and the banal." A Bandrom event may be realised on "one night or over several days, and in each version there is a new set-up that relates to the place and context."

From 2007 to 2009, Torvund was selected as an entrant for the INTRO-composer launch programme, that was administered by MIC Music Information Centre Norway and Concerts Norway. In 2012 Torvund received the Arne Nordheim composer prize and in 2013 he was a DAAD-fellow in Berlin.

September 2017 saw Torvund being bestowed with the Edvard Prize in the Contemporary category for his work Sweet Pieces.

Production

Selected works Orchestral works Archaic Jam for orchestra with electronics (2017) Sweet Pieces (2016) Idyllic Scenes (2015) How Sound Travels (2006) Solo Plans I (2015) Abstraction in Folk Art (2014) The Stacks (2007) Krull quest for cello and electronics (2004)

Chamber Wolf Studies (2006/2014) Untitled School/Mud Jam/Campfire Tunes (2014) Plastic Waves (2013) Willibald Motor Landscape (2012) Neon Forest Space (2009

Sinfonietta Forest Construction (2012)

Discography asamisimasa, Neon Forest Space - asamisimasa plays the music of Øyvind Torvund (2015) Bjørn Fongaard – Galaxe (2015) Kjell Tore Innervik, A Migrant in the New (2011) Concepts of Sorrows and dangers (2006) Tanja Orning, Cellotronics (2005) Håkon Thelin, A P)reference to Other Things (2004) Poing, Giants of Jazz (2003) Circulasione Totale Orchestra, Borealis (1998)