Ellen Bødtker
is an innovative harpist and composer. She has played in most concert halls, venues and festivals in Norway and a lot around the world. She is a harpist with character and is one of Scandinavia’s leading harp soloists. She studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, University of Music and Dart Eligible Arts, Vienna and Indiana University, Bloomington USA. Ellen has a strong commitment to contemporary music and several of Scandinavia’s leading composers have written solo pieces for her. She holds the position of solo harpist with the ensemble Oslo Sinfonietta. She has performed at prestigious festivals in many parts of the world with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist she has played with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, The Norwegian Wind Ensemble, St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra and Oslo Sinfonietta. Besides six solo albums under her own name, she has also participated in numerous panels in many genres, which has led to solo concerts in countries such as Japan, USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Russia and Canada. She is founder and president of the Munch notion «Heart Blood» that celebrated Munch 150 years in Norway and with «Heart Blood» she also played concerts in New York and Tokyo in 2013.

Jan Erik Vold
is known as an essayist, translator, cultural commentator and recording artist. He has through his poems and newspaper articles set in motion a series of debates on literature and politics. In September 2000 he was also appointed an honorary doctorate at the University of Oslo. In the 1960 ́s he studied languages and literature at the universities of Oslo, Uppsala and Santa Barbara, California. He debuted as a poet in 1965 with the collection “Mellom speil og speil” (Between mirror and mirror), and has since had an extensive production. Among his most famous record releases is «Blåmann, Blåmann» (1988) with Chet Baker and «Ingentings bjeller» (1977) with Jan Garbarek. His poem «Tale for loffen» (A speech for the white loaf) made him famous throughout Norway. When he let his funny imagination run riot over the word «Kulturuke» (Cultur week) as presented in the national TV evening news many years ago, he became a person virtually every adult in Norway got to know. Jan Erik Vold now lives in Stockholm.

Arve Henriksen
hails from Stryn in the western part of Norway and is one of today’s leading jazz trumpet players. As a musician and composer, he has a position that reaches far beyond the jazz world. Henriksen was educated at Jazzlinja (NTNU) in Trondheim at a period where he participated in a several bands. His own solo CD “Sakuteiki” was released 2001. Together with Paal Nilssen-Love, he was in 2004 selected to the honorable launch program «Norwegian Jazz Launch Europe». In 2005 he participated on the concert DVD and CD release «Sketches of Spain» with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble led by Maria Schneider. In 2012 Arve Henriksen released a box with 7 LPs and a DVD, containing the older albums «Sakuteiki» (2001), «Chiaroscuro» (2004) and «Strjon» (2007), as well as previously unreleased live recordings on the LP «Chron». «The Nature of Connections» was released in 2014. Arve played on the Norwegian Grammy nominated release «Fly North!» with Jan Gunnar Hoff, Anders Jormin and Marilyn Mazur on Losen Records, 2014. He is founder and leader of the band Supersilent. Arve now lives in southern Sweden.

Eirik Raude
has won numerous awards as percussionist and premiered dozens of works. He has been a soloist with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, premiered works by Erlend Skomsvoll, Sofia Gubaidulina, Eivind Buene, Mark Adderley. He has made interdisciplinary collaborations with world music including video art, contemporary dance and theater as well as exploration of new technologies; with different groups and individuals.

His latest project is a concert that explores sound and space: «Horizons», with Arve Henriksen. He released his first solo CD in 2005 which was applauded by the press. Eirik Raude studied percussion at the Academy of Music, Rotterdam Conservatory and Yale University and has taught at the Barratt Due Institute of Music, held international percussion seminars as well as master classes at Tromsø High School. He worked for 10 years as a percussionist in the Oslo Philharmonic Orch.