Åsmund Feidje

After seven years of violin lessons as a child, Åsmund Feidje founded an experimental rock band, RAIN, in 1967. In 1969 the band auditioned for the composer and pianist Finn Ludt, and was thereafter engaged by Norway’s National Theatre to perform in the pop musical Din egen vri (based on the musical Your own thing by Donald Driver, Hal Hester and Danny Apolinar). Feidje would later work with Ludt on many productions, for example Pendlerne and Jenteloven. Feidje considered it a privilege to work so closely with a composer who had so much experience in the theatre, and this was instrumental in his own later development and understanding of theatre music’s requirements and challenges.

Since the end of the 1970s, Feidje has worked increasingly as a composer, and in 1989/90 he took a year off to study in Salzburg with the Polish composer Bogusław Schaeffer. He wrote some chamber music following his study year, but it was not long before he returned to the stage. He has composed music for more than 150 productions, many of which have been performed internationally. He has composed ballet music for the national ballet companies of Norway, Finland and Iceland, and his music has featured in major festivals both in Norway and abroad: the ImPulsTanz festival in Vienna, the Avignon Festival, San Marino International Arts Festival, Bergen International Festival and the Ibsen Festival in Oslo, among others. He has written music for all the major institutional theatres in Norway, for the radio drama division of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), and for film and television productions. In 2002 he travelled to New Delhi together with choreographer Sølvi Edvardsen to create the ballet Beyond Borders with leading Norwegian and Indian dancers.

SOURCE:

Akershus Theatre (now Unge Viken Teater), 09.02.2012