Fresh From The Press

Composer’s Camp 2024

August 19-23 in Aalborg & Nykøbing Mors, Denmark

one-week composition camp based in Aalborg, Denmark

Are you a young composer and instrumentalist, eager to learn more about composition methods and to develop your own practise of creating new music?

Would you like to extend your network of likeminded Nordic and European young musicians, and work with them to breathe life into your compositions for a festival audience?

Then join us from 19.-23. august in Aalborg, Denmark, where we have invited some of the most interesting composers from the new European music scene to teach composition methods and mindsets:

  • Mona Krogstad Lund (NO)

  • Kenneth Dahl Knudsen (DK)

  • Wassim Mukdad (SY/DE)

Program:

You will be assigned to small ensembles (3-6 people) and will work with this group for the camp.

Monday - Wednesday, we will have a program from 10-18. Every day, you will be introduced to a new composition task, which you will work on during the day. In the afternoon, you and your ensemble will try out the different compositions, experimenting with what happens from idea to performance.

Thursday - Friday, we will go to the culture festival “Kulturmødet”, where we will “open the laboratory” and perform the sketches and material that you have created during the first part of the week. This will be a chance to evaluate your ideas in a live performance setting.

You will be provided with excellent knowledge, supervision and feedback from.

Details:

  • Dates: 19.-23rd August (International participants arrive on 18th, leave on 24th)

  • Location: The camp is based at The Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg.

  • Accomodation: Participants not from Aalborg will be staying at Huset i Hasserisgade, 9000 Aalborg

  • Cost: The camp is free for selected participants

  • Target Group: The camp is for young musicians and composers, especially those from jazz, folk, improvised, and instrumental-based music scenes.

  • Transport: You are expected to handle international transport to and from Aalborg yourself, but we may be able to cover partially.

Instructors:

Mona Krogstad is a saxophonist, bandleader and composer, educated from the jazz programme at NTNU in Trondheim and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

She is active in projects such as JUNO, Mona Krogstad Quartet, Starlight Big Band and Superspreder, and has released several albums with various bands over the past 8 years. As a composer, she has written music for string orchestra, band and big band, vocal ensemble, theatre and her own bands. Mona recently wrote a commissioned piece for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival 2024 titled "Serenity Now", performed by her quartet & Kristoffer Lo. In addition to practising music, she works as a producer for Trøndelag Big Band and as a jazz teacher at Sund Folkehøgskole.

Mona thinks that music is one of the most beautiful forms of communication we humans create with each other, and is fascinated by the fact that the language of music can contain so many images, emotions and moods.

Kenneth Dahl Knudsen has played all around the globe - in Japan, Thailand, Israel, Marokko, Lebanon, Marokko, Romania, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, The Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, USA, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil.

Whether he is in a smoky cellar in Morocco, a hut on the Greenland ice sheet or a jazz club in Tokyo, Kenneth Dahl Knudsen has a personal and artistic mission to create the music of the future in a reflection of human traditions and cultures. From his base in Northern Denmark, he brings ancient musical traditions and their contemporary mediators into play - with the composer's thoroughness, the jazz musician's ferocity and the anthropologist's endless curiosity.

He has composed works for The Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra in Copenhagen, Brilliant Corners in Tokyo, the GetJazz Bigband in Tokyo and for his own large ensembles.

Wassim Mukdad is a Berlin-based musician and composer from Syria. He composes, directs and plays the Oud (the Arabic Laute) performing multiple genres like Tarab, Dance and Medieval music mixed with elements from other musical cultures.

Since early childhood, Wassim played both the Oud and Piano, strongly inspired by Munir Bashir, one of the best Oud players in history. He continued his academic studies at "the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus" under the supervision of the renowned professors Askar Alikbarov (from Azerbaijan), Isam Rafee and Mohammad Othman (from Syria).

Wassim currently works on various music and theatre projects, including

"Reich des Todes. Politische Theorie" in Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg.

"Ajam Quartet" is a Quartet for the fusion of Arabic and European music in Berlin.

Trio Laulu, Piano, Contra-bass and Oud perform an oriental and jazz interpretation of Finnish folk music.

"Kayan Project", a mixed quartet of Syria and Israel, delivering a message of peace and diversity.

Wassim has performed also with a lot of ensembles in Syria and Turkey stressing on opening the conversation between cultures and advocating peace in the face of stereotyping, racism and wars.

Application Process:

Applications are handled on a first-come, first-served basis, and we aim to answer all applications within 36 hours.

Write an e-mail to lukas@jazz9tus.com with the title “Application for Fresh From The Press Composer’s Camp 2024”.

You can write the mail in English, Danish or Norwegian :-)

It should include:

  • Your name, birth year, primary instrument

  • What is your motivation to pursue a career as composer?

  • What is your experience with composing music?

  • What is your experience playing music?

  • If you have recorded music, can you share a link and a short description of the music?

  • Contact info (e-mail, phone number)

  • Do you need accommodation? Do you need to travel?

Then we will get back to you ASAP.

Supported by

Fresh From The Press is supported by:

  • KulturKanten

  • KODA Kultur

  • Tuborgfondet