<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="65001"%> Njål Sparbo


Njål Sparbo

FOTO: © Bente Elisabeth Finserås

 

RESARCH PROJECTS

2017-2020: (Un-) settling Sites and Styles: Performers in Search of New Expressive Means

This project aims to widen the area of what we can express, demonstrate and talk about in the performer’s search for expressive means when transmitting a musical composition’s expressive intentions into performances. The project was initiated by Einar Røttingen, and the research group includes Signe Bakke, John Ehde, Arnulf Mattes, Liv Nordskog, Ricardo Odriozola, Knut Vaage, Hilde Sveen, Torleif Torgersen and Njål Sparbo. Through the study of scores and relevant sources focusing on personal artistic reflections and intersubjective exchanges within a research group, the project seeks to get new insight into performative processes and make a contribution to developing and renewing ways we express ourselves as musicians in our music, and how we speak about our music within and outside music institutions. LINK: University in Bergen / LINK "Sonotical interpretations of 70 songs by Geirr Tveitt"

2014-2015: "The reflective musician"

"The Reflective Musician – Interpretation as co-creative process" was an Artistic Development Programme concentration at the Norwegian Academy of Music, which combined artistic development and traditional research on historical practices. The project was initiated by Håkon Austbø, and the research group included Darla Crispin, Lasse Thoresen, Olaf Eggestad, Ellen Ugelvik, Nils Henrik Asheim and Njål Sparbo. The aim was to formulate which type of performance knowledge that is needed for different musical interpretation prosesses.
LINK: Research Catalogue

2009-2014: "Singing on the stage - with a psychophysical approach"

In 2009-2014 I worked as a fellow researcher at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts with a research project merging different aspects of artistic performance practice with the Norwegian psychomotor tradition. I investigated how a resource-oriented psychophysical approach could be used to enhance my development as a singer and, in addition, give basic input to staged music performances. This approach has been tested in all phases of the artistic progress – from conceptualization right through to actual performance. Various exercises were put together in new ways, tested and integrated into the project. The artistic result was a "Final Performance" in March 2014. The critical reflection was approved, and the "viva voce" at the Norwegian Academy of Arts in October 2014 was successful.
Supervisors were:
• composer Henrik Hellstenius, professor, Norwegian Academy of Music
• choreographer Anne Grete Erisken, professor, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
The assessment committee members were:
• Åsa Unander-Scharin, associate professor, Luleå University of Technology (chair)
• Johanna Garpe, professor, Stockholm University of the Arts
• Ole Anders Tandberg, director
• Ole Lützow Holm, professor, Academy of Music and Drama University of Gothenburg, University of Gothenburg
LINK: Reflection

2005-2008: "Norwegian songs"

In 2005 Njål Sparbo received a three-year grant from the Art Council Norway to do artistic practice based research of "Norwegian Songs". One of the results of the analytic approach to text and music was a digitalisation of songs by Edvard Grieg, Halfdan Kjerulf, Richard Nordraak and Geirr Tveitt, of which many are awailable for singers in any key at http://norwegiansongs.net. An artistic result of the work is the first recording of a series with "Norwegian Songs". Another artistic result was a series of seven concerts in conjunction with the Greig Memorial Festival in the city of Bergen where Njål Sparbo and Einar Røttingen performed all of Edvard Greigs 172 songs for which Njål Sparbo received the Grieg-prize in 2009. LINK: The Arts Council Norway

1997-1999: "Art songs"

In 1997 Njål Sparbo received a three-year grant from the Art Council Norway to do artistic practice based research of "Art Songs". Sparbo worked mainly with German, Russian, Scandinavian and English repertoire. LINK: The Arts Council Norway