Cecilie Ore has been awarded TONO's EDVARD Prize in the Contemporary 2019 category for the work "Waterworks".
/ 19/10/2019 / Kristian Dugstad- This was a big and very pleasant surprise. The EDVARD Prize is a great prize to receive. With "Waterworks", I have returned to instrumental music again after having written a lot for choir and opera, and it is therefore extra nice that it is so well received. And then I have to thank Hardanger Music Festival, who commissioned the work, and the Engborg Quartet, who premiered the work, and who were fantastic fun to work with, says Cecilie Ore.
Ore received the award on Saturday morning in front of a packed Sagende Church after the premiere of his new work “Speak Louder.” The award was presented by last year’s winner in the same category, Jonas Skaarud.
The EDVARD Prize is awarded annually by TONO 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, who receive kr 50,000 as well as a trophy and a diploma, both designed by artist Magne Furuholmen.
«Waterworks is a piece with nerve and energy, which springs from a clear and distinct idea. It sounds transparent and has a clarity that is both exciting and risky. Ore challenges the ensemble and demands a lot from it. This will become part of the string quartet canon. The work maintains a sky-high level, in that it uses all the virtuoso elements of a string quartet. You have to be a particularly good string player to be able to play this. But, it is not virtuoso just for the sake of being so. It is musically coherent. The work is beautiful, it has good energy, and it holds the listener's attention from beginning to end, throughout 20 minutes.
TONO has awarded the EDVARD Prize since 1998:
– It is a central part of TONO's work to highlight that music has value, and that music creation is an important work. With the EDVARD Prize, we highlight some of the most beautiful music that was created in the previous year, and with it we want to honor not only individual authors but also to create awareness about the important work that composers, lyricists and songwriters do, says TONO's communications manager, Willy Martinsen.
The other nominees in the Contemporary category were Martin Ødegaard with "For your ears only" and Tine Surel Lange with "Works for Listening 2018".
The jury for the EDVARD Prize 2019 consists of Torgny Amdam (NOPA), Kate Havnevik (NOPA), Peter Edwards (NKF), Kristin Norderval (NKF), Ellen Brekken (Independent), Ole Børud (Independent), Jan Stefan Bengtsson (Music Publishers) and jury chair Stine Lieng (Music Publishers).
The EDVARD Prize is named after Edvard Grieg, and is a prize that TONO has awarded annually since 1998. The prize is awarded to authors who have created musical works and lyrics of high artistic quality. With the prize, TONO wants to increase attention to Norwegian composers and lyricists, and to increase Norwegians' understanding of, and knowledge of, newly written Norwegian music. The winner's music or lyrics must have been premiered or published in the previous year, but emphasis is also placed on the author's other production. The prize consists of kr 50,000,-, as well as a trophy and a diploma designed by Magne Furuholmen.