Vocal sextet Nordic Voices performs in Madrid

The Norwegian vocal sextet Nordic Voices performs at the CentroCentro in Madrid.

Nordic Voices, the Norwegian six-voice a cappella group, performs this Wednesday, 29 June, in Madrid at the CentroCentro space. The group is taking part in the cycle Abre tus oídos [Open your ears], curated by Desclasificados (Lucia Arnaud and Baldur Brönnimann), whose common element this year is that it is made up of composers who use sounds from nature, auditory memory and everyday noises.

Since its founding in 1996 in Oslo, Nordic Voices has been gaining reputation and recognition as one of the best a cappella groups in the world. The sextet consists of sopranos Tone E. Braaten and Ingrid Hanken, Swedish mezzo-soprano Ebba Rydh, tenor Per Kristian Amundrød, baritone Frank Havrøy and bass Rolf Magne Asser, and its repertoire ranges from medieval to contemporary music, exploring broad spectrums of musical expression. The programme with which Nordic Voices performs in Madrid consists of four pieces of early music, from the 14th to the 17th centuries (from the most ancient to the most modern: Le ray au soley, by the Flemish composer Johannes Ciconia; O verdi selv ˙o dolci fonti i rivi, by the Italian Luca Marenzio; Les chant des Oiseaux by the French composer Clément Jannequin and Se cantano gl’augelli by the Italian Giovanni Gabrieli) and five contemporary pieces by the Austrian Peter Ablinger (Studien nach der Natur) and the Norwegians Lasse Thoresen (Solbøn, opus 42), Bjørn Bolstad Skjelbred (Spring Without Voices and Still in Silence) and Maja S. K. Ratkje (A Dismantled Ode To The Moral Value Of Art).