Anja Lauvdal received the EDVARD Prize

Composer and jazz musician Anja Lauvdal is this year's winner of TONO's EDVARD Prize in the Open Class category, receiving 50,000 kroner as well as a trophy and a diploma designed by artist and composer colleague Magne Furuholmen. Lauvdal was presented with the prize by former EDVARD winner Susanna Wallumrød after Lauvdal's concert at Cafe Mir in Oslo on Thursday evening, which was part of the concert series f/eks under the auspices of the Concert Association.

The jury's reasoning
"Anja Lauvdal's album consists of a playful composition that brings out the magic in the seemingly simple, gray everyday life. We can see the steam rising from the kettle and almost hear the water boiling and bubbling up where the lid has moved in the work "Tehanu". This is how she moves us with her play of steaming sounds. It is perhaps the symphony of an imaginary everyday kitchen that leads us straight into the deep forest in "The Dreamer". Here there are birds and sunbeams through thick leafy branches, but also shadows that follow us and want to tell those who really listen about what is coming. Lauvdal dances with our senses and breathes us in and out like warm steam in the cold air. From a Story Now Lost is a reminder of our seamlessness in encountering nature, and perhaps also a recognition of our species' amnesia."

Awarded since 1998
The EDVARD Prize has been awarded annually by TONO since 1998, and is awarded in five categories to composers and lyricists who have created musical works of particularly high quality in the previous year. A highly qualified professional jury selects the winners.

– With the EDVARD Prize, TONO wants to honor outstanding composers, create awareness about newly written Norwegian music, and help increase understanding of how important the work done by composers, lyricists and songwriters is, says TONO's communications director, Willy Martinsen.

The jury for the EDVARD Prize 2023
The jury in 2023 has consisted of Sten Ove Toft (independent, jury leader), Agnes Hvizdalek (Norwegian Composers' Association), Alexander Austheim (NOPA), Andrew Smith (Music Publishers), Martin Rane Bauck (Norwegian Composers' Association), Oda Svendsby (Music Publishers), Ole Børud (independent) and Samsaya Sharma (NOPA).

About TONO

TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by composers, lyricists and music publishers, and which manages the economic copyrights in their musical works. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music on radio, TV, the internet, concerts, cinema, etc. for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders of music that has been performed publicly. TONO has more than 40,000 members, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 864,6 million in 2022.

For more information:

Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no; Tel. +47,909 65 254