TERJE VIKEN
composer - percussionist
Ever since my early teenage years I dreamt of playing in a large symphony orchestra. In 1991 I became principal percussionist in the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and this started my journey as a musician. The great classics - Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mahler - among other composers of great substance, are still just as amazing and important to me today in my current job as co-principal percussionist of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, where I have been for the last 25 years.
I enjoy playing chamber music, have performed as soloist with multiple orchestras and participated in a number of festivals. Every year I teach at summer courses with The Norwegian National Youth Orchestra.
As a teenager and later as a student at the Norwegian Academy of Music, I discovered contemporary music. Several composers made a huge impression on me, inspiring my own compositional creativity. My activities as a composer have flourished in recent years with new pieces of mine performed by great musicians and published by Norsk Musikkforlag and NB noter.
I still get goosebumps almost every week at work. Being involved in music on a daily basis - playing, composing and listening – makes my life rich and colourful.
NEWS
Upcoming:
October 23the
Aura
for solo euphonium
world premiere by Bente Illevold
November 2023
Imprints
for solo clarinet and ensemble
Concert at Dokkhuset/Trondheim 25/11and recording - with Lars Hilde, Trondheim Sinfonietta/cond. Rolf Gupta
2023
Riss
for solo tenor recorder
recording with Caroline Eidsten Dahl
Shadow to Shadow III
new version for solo timpani and percussion trio ( concert and recording)
New album: Passage(s) - release august 13the -21
RE-echoes - concert and tour in Norway - october 2021
with Bente Illevold and Anders Kregnes Hansen
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Works (in progress) :
- "Midrè-fragmenter" based on poems by Markus Midrè
,for soprano/bass/perc/audio files
- new piece for Sisu percussion trio and winds
- new piece for Caroline Eidsten Dahl
Release August 13th, -21
Passage(s)
solo percussion and audio files
Transformations, and how different materials interact are the basic idea of this piece – like a journey in and out of soundscapes.
To expand the instrumentation, the performer's voice is used to give some extra timbre to the textures. Letters, mostly consonants are transformed into syllables, words and expressions, which resonates
with the various passages and moods in the piece.
Earth IIb - reverberation-
percussion trio
This piece is inspired by a series of memories. The piece modulates between sections with strict rhythms, pulses and gestures, and dreamy abstract landscapes.
Shadow to Shadow
timpani, tuned gongs,bells, crotales and electronics
This piece is written for five timpani, and the idea was to create something melodic and poetic for solo timpani. To expand the instrumentation I added some gongs, bells and electronic sounds.
I have long been fascinated by the works of writer Paul Auster, and his poems "Shadow to Shadow" became the starting point of writing this piece.
Shadow to Shadow is written for my good friend Tom Vissgren - solo timpanist
in The Oslo philharmonic Orchestra
with suppsort from
Norwegian Society of Composers
Geir Strande Syrrist
solo percussion / timpani
Bathos
Simen Brenden/Geir Strande Syrrist/Håkon Drevland
Christian Obermayer
recording - edit/mix/master
Coverdesign : Trym Valebjørg
Painting : Bjørnulf Dyrud