Agnes Ida Pettersen has been awarded the 2021 EDVARD Prize in the "Contemporary" category for the work "A vere i livet".
/ 07/12/2021 / Kristian DugstadComposer Agnes Ida Pettersen composed one of last year's most well-composed pieces of music. That's according to the EDVARD jury, which has named her the winner of the Contemporary category for 2021.
– The work's expressive contrasts and diverse associations embrace everything from folk tones to the Baroque, with an exploratory and shining sonorous surface, the jury writes in its justification.
Here, TONO's communications manager, Willy Martinsen, presents the award to Pettersen. The story continues below the video.
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.
– The EDVARD Prize is awarded to composers and lyricists. For more than 20 years, it has been important in creating awareness of newly written Norwegian music and the work that composers, lyricists and songwriters do. There is a strong professional jury behind it, and they now believe that Agnes Ida Pettersen is behind one of the most well-written musical works that was premiered in 2020, says communications manager at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
"Agnes Ida Pettersen's work Å vere i livet is a setting of a poem by poet Halldis Moren Vesaas (1907–1995). The text is a tribute to mother and an embrace of life and the presence, space and security it offers. This is reflected by Pettersen, who sets the text to music in its full depth. The many layers of meaning are conveyed in the music with a rich palette of means. The work's expressive contrasts and diverse associations embrace everything from folk tunes to the Baroque, with an exploratory and shining sonorous surface. There is a great breadth of inspiration and a range of technical details in the work, all seamlessly joined into a musical whole. The work radiates both security and playfulness. The tonal complexity is experienced easily and enrichingly at the same time."
The jury for the EDVARD Prize 2021 The jury consisted of Torgny Amdam (NOPA), Peter Edwards (Norwegian Composers' Association), Samsaya Sharma (NOPA), Sten Ove Toft (Independent), Ole Børud (Independent), Thomas Wettergreen (Music Publishers), Kristin Norderval (Norwegian Composers' Association) and Oda Svendsby (Music Publishers).
About TONO:
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and which on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has 37,000 members, but works for several million authors and music publishers from the rest of the world in the Norwegian territory. TONO's collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music and gives music creators an economic basis for creating new musical works. TONO's turnover in 2020 was kr 712,4 millions.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65 254.