Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen's "Ekhidna" was one of the very best albums of last year. That's according to TONO's EDVARD jury, which has named Mollestad Thomassen the winner in the Open Class category for 2020.
/ 03/09/2020 / Willy MartinsenPhoto above: left to right Composer and member of the EDVARD jury Peter Edwards, Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen and communications manager at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen was today presented with TONO's EDVARD award by composer Peter Edwards from the EDVARD jury. The whole thing happened during a recording of the NRK Classical radio program "NRK Classical Prelude".
– It's really nice to receive the EDVARD Prize. It's a really good recognition for the work I've done in creating this music, and it actually means a lot to me. It's an important prize that highlights fresh music, and it's also a prize that comes from our own people, from those who are supposed to take care of our intellectual works, said Mollestad Thommesen. She thanked all the musicians who have been involved in Ekhidna and Vossajazz where the work was premiered in 2019. She also took the opportunity to highlight her fellow nominees in the Open Class:
– I would like to give a shout out to Bugge Wesseltoft and Harald Tusberg Jr. and to Broen, who also deserved an EDVARD award!
Here is the jury's reasoning:
"Ekhidna" is a sonic journey you won't want to miss. The accomplished composer and jazz guitarist Hedvig Mollestad Thomassen has created a daring, hard, exploratory, and innovative masterpiece. The Greek monster Ekhidna, half woman and half snake, is personified through the music. It is virtuosic and rough. The transitions from free to unison, with odd time signatures driven forward by magnificent drumming, contribute to a genre-crossing and contrasting grand form. It is easy to get absorbed in the dynamic progress. The orchestration is correspondingly raw and refined with magnificent sonic contrasts, but which nevertheless flow together into a musical whole.
Price for more than 20 years
The EDVARD Prize has been awarded annually at 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, who receive kr 50,000 as well as a trophy and a diploma, both designed by artist Magne Furuholmen.
– It is an important 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 created in the previous year, and with it we want to both honor individual creators and create awareness about the important work that composers, lyricists and songwriters do, says TONO's communications manager, Willy Martinsen.
The jury for the EDVARD Prize 2020 has consisted of Peter Edwards (Norwegian Composers' Association), Kristin Norderval (Norwegian Composers' Association), Torgny Amdam (NOPA), Samsaya Sharma (NOPA), Sten Ove Toft (Independent), Ole Børud (Independent), Thomas Wettergren (Music Publishers) and jury chair Stine Lieng (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 of music that has been played in public. TONO has 34,000 members, but also works for approximately three million authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO's social role is twofold, on the one hand collecting and simplifying the licensing of protected music and on the other hand providing music creators with an economic basis for creating new musical works. TONO's turnover in 2019 was kr 771 millions.
For more information:
Willy Martinsen, communications manager at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65 254.