Ingar Zach has received the EDVARD Prize in the Contemporary category. Photo: Krisitan Dugstad/TONO
The EDVARD Prize in the Contemporary category has been awarded to composer Ingar Zach for the work Musica liquida. “Only exceptionally do we hear a sound that reminds us that these are instruments we have heard before,” says the jury.
/ 15/09/2023 / Willy MartinsenComposer Ingar Zach has been awarded TONO's EDVARD Prize in the Contemporary category for the work "Musica Liquida". He receives 50,000 kroner as well as a trophy and a diploma designed by artist Magne Furuholmen. Zach was awarded the prize after his concert at the Norwegian Academy of Music on Thursday evening, which was held as part of the Ultima festival.
– It is a great and joyful surprise to be awarded the EDVARD Prize. It is especially gratifying to receive this recognition for my solo work, says Inger Zach.
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 create awareness about newly written Norwegian music, and to contribute to increased understanding of the importance of the work done by composers, lyricists and songwriters, says TONO's communications director, Willy Martinsen.
"Musica liquida is the first sonic documentation of Ingar Zach's artistic research project "The Vibrating Drum". Through his innovative approach to the drums, Zach seeks to explore the potential of the instruments and develop a new musical practice for percussionists. Vibrating microphones in contact with the drumhead capture the sound at close range when the skins are set in motion. The recording location – the Edvard Vigeland Mausoleum with its almost apocalyptic reverberation – together with Zach's compositional skill, has resulted in a recording that offers a breathtaking, fascinating sound world. Zach builds the compositions in long waves that are layered, repeated, and replace each other. Only exceptionally do we hear a sound that reminds us that these are instruments we have heard before, but played in a more conventional way. Zach succeeds in creating a holistic and original musical world where the individual movements have a clear compositional form and no elements are superfluous. Musica liquida is therefore a worthy winner of the 2023 Edvard Prize in the Contemporary category.
The jury has consisted of Sten Ove Toft (independent, jury leader), Agnes Hvizdalek (NKF), Alexander Austheim (NOPA), Andrew Smith (Musikkforleggerne), Martin Rane Bauck (NKF), Oda Svendsby (Musikkforleggerne), Ole Børud (Independent) and Samsaya Sharma (NOPA)
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.
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no; Tel. +47 909 65 254