Nine awards were presented at the Music Publishers Awards 2022 on Wednesday evening. You can see all the winners here.
/ 07/04/2022 / Kristian DugstadOn Wednesday, April 6, the eighth edition of Music Publishers Award Nine awards were presented to a packed Marble Hall at Sentralen in Oslo.
Below you will find an overview of the winners of all awards.
Work: The smile in your own mirror (Chris Holsten)
Originators: Synne Vo (Music Publisher: Arctic Rights Management / BMG Rights Management)
Christoffer Holsten (Music publisher: Warner Chappell Music Publishing)
Lars Rosness (Music publisher: Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia)
Alexander Fallo
Benjamin Giortz
The jury's reasoning: Sometimes a song comes along that really hits the mark, but at the same time has an important message. In a time when the focus on mental health has unfortunately taken a back seat compared to other health threats (yes, we will never stop talking about Covid-19), this song has been a unifying force and almost omnipresent in Norwegian ears. It is fully deserved. With this song, the winners in the work of the year category address something absolutely essential; namely how many people can actually be behind seemingly perfect facades and masks. “Smilet i ditt eget speil” is a rare good example of how lyrics and melody can come together into a higher unity.
Author: Marie Ulven
Music publisher: Universal Music Publishing UK
The jury's reasoning: Outwardly, the winner's path from her bedroom to billboards in Times Square in New York City may seem short, but behind the scenes lies countless hours in the studio and an enormous development as a songwriter and producer. Her flair for writing songs that hit the spot, with productions that support the message in the lyrics, has made her an artist and songwriter who will be important for a long time. This is demonstrated in earnest on her debut album "If I Could Make It Go Quiet" where everything from the raw honesty of "Serotonin" to the bitter and angry "You Stupid Bitch" takes the listener on an auditory journey into the artist's universe. The release has garnered praise from heavyweights such as Taylor Swift and production guru FINNEAS, not least nominations for prestigious music awards both at home and abroad, and confirms her position as one of the most skilled and exciting artists in her genre.
Author: Vetle Junker
Music publisher: Edda Music
The jury's reasoning: The award for this year's breakthrough goes to a producer chameleon who moves in many different band constellations. The young star producer from Bergen has, among other things, crafted harmonious and sumptuous synth-pop for Metteson and playful and transcendent indie with Sondre Lerche, and the list of collaborators is long. We are talking about names like Aurora, Gundelach, Nils Bech, Frida Ånnevik, iris, Hannah Storm and ARY, as well as his own projects like Verdensrommet and Malstrøm. In addition, in the fall of 2021 he presented his solo project "MAD", which was a commissioned work for the EKKO festival. 2021 has truly been a successful year for the winner.
Work: Considering Icarus
Author: Maja Ratkje
Music publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
The jury's reasoning: The winner of the Work of the Year – Classical/Contemporary Music has written a solid work that shows the trombone in a new light. She explores the trombone's possibilities of playing overtones over fundamentals that slowly change and are reflected in the orchestral texture in a very varied way. This creates a sense of Icarus' flight. The work has a colorful orchestration that explores exciting sound palettes. The composer also uses extended playing techniques in the orchestral instruments, and demonstrates that she has a good overview of the tonal effect these give in the whole. This work is an innovative trombone concerto that could become a central work in the contemporary music repertoire, and that deserves more performances.
Author: Orjan Matre
Music publisher: Edition Peters
The jury's reasoning: The winner of the Composer of the Year – Classical/Contemporary Music is an exciting composer with a very unique character and voice who writes large and current productions. He has also been very active in 2021 with several premieres. His percussion concerto has an original tonal language that invites the listener into the music, and arouses the listener's curiosity. It provides a snapshot of the year in which it was written, and expresses both frustration and resignation. The composer masters the compositional craft at a very high level, and writes very well. The solo part in the aforementioned work is also virtuously designed and effectively notated. This composer is set to have a prominent role among Norwegian composers ahead of him.
Author: Ingebjørg Vilhelmsen
Music publisher: Norwegian Note Service, Vigmostad & Bjørke AS
The jury's reasoning: The winner of the Breakthrough of the Year – Classical/Contemporary Music is a young composer who has written a work for wind orchestra and string orchestra, among other things. The work is well executed for the chosen ensemble and shows the composer's skills in orchestration and arranging for different instrument groups. The young composer has a good ear and thinks creatively about instrumentation and texture. Writing for ensembles of varying difficulty is important: It can be a defining experience for children and young people to experience the interaction in a large ensemble.
Work: The smile in your own mirror (Chris Holsten)
Originators: Synne Vo (Publisher: Arctic Rights Management / BMG Rights Management)
Christoffer Holsten (Publisher: Warner Chappell Music Publishing)
Lars Rosness (Publisher: Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia)
Alexander Fallo
Benjamin Giortz
The jury's reasoning: "Smilet i ditt eget speil" by Chris Holsten is the most played song of the year! The award is given to the authors behind the song released in 2021, which according to Radiomonitor and Spotify received the most radio play and streaming in Norway combined, and which has one or more Norwegian authors. Chris Holsten, Synne Vo, Lars Rosness, Alexander Fallo and Benjamin Giørtz have created a song that combines lyrics and melody in a way that is both captivating and conveys an important message. The song won Song of the Year at P3-gull and is also nominated for Song of the Year 2021 at Spellemannprisen.
Work: "Aksel Score", film music for the documentary film "Aksel"
Originators: Kristoffer Lo (Music Publisher: GILT)
Fay Wildhagen (Music publisher: Budde Music Scandinavia)
The jury's reasoning: This year's winner surprises the viewer with an expression that is atypical for the genre. In a low-key way, the music draws us into the film and makes room for the sound design, which creates a balanced interaction between sound and image. The music is experienced as sophisticated and expands the film experience. Often this happens by contrasting the images more than simply reinforcing the feeling embedded in the visual expression. The rawness and extremeness of the film's narrative meet the occasionally soft arrangements of Kristoffer Lo and Fay Wildhagen. This creates an exciting, diverse and unique encounter with the environment, the person and the athlete depicted in the film about and with Aksel Lund Svindal.
The jury's reasoning: For over 30 years, Unni Boretti has worked for and with Norwegian composers and rights holders to make Norwegian music available at home and abroad. She has combined commercial success with tireless work to strengthen musical breadth and diversity. With great courage, she has taken responsibility and contributed her expertise and experience through many positions and roles. This year's honorary award winner is a person with outstanding integrity, drive and capacity and a fundamental trust in her employees. Today, she is the general manager of Norsk Musikforlag, where she started as a secretary in the late 80s. At that time, the filing cabinets were the music publishers' data servers, and orchestral music was often written by hand. The development in society and the industry has been great, and Unni Boretti has not only adapted, but also been a central part in the development of the field.
"The honorary prize gives the opportunity to award a scholarship of NOK 20,000 to an author or music publisher in whom she has great faith. This year the scholarship went to folk musician and composer John-Ole Morken"
"Morken has a great commitment and drive for Norwegian folk music, both in innovation and preservation, and is a great talent as both a performer and creator," said Boretti in his justification.
Jury popular music: Marthe Heggenhougen, Tord Litleskare, Anna Noor Sorensen
Jury classical/contemporary music: Leah Tagami Andonov, Lasse Thoresen, Tine Surel Lange
More about the Music Publishers and the Music Publishers Award
The Music Publishers were founded in 1936 and consist of Norwegian music publishers who, through agreements with authors, arrange, publish, market and license works for sale and/or use. The first Norwegian music publisher was founded in 1809 and what is today the largest in Norway, Norsk Musikforlag, was started in 1909. Music has accompanied humans since the dawn of time. Since we could speak, we have sung, and since we could walk, we have danced. The work that a music publisher works with will forever remain unchanged. It will always appear exactly as it was at the moment it was created and will still need to be taken care of, no matter what technology or the world at large looks like.