Full programme just announced, the Proms run from 17 July - 12 September: The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra return to the Royal Albert Hall for this year's Proms on Saturday 29 August, with music by Sergey Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Norwegian composer Øyvind Torvund on the programme.
Also from Norway, cellist Jonathan Aasgaard is performing with the Sinfonia of London under the baton of John Wilson on 24 July. On the 27th, Kristine Tjøgersen's work Beyond Trees has its UK Premiere in a performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Photo: The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, credit: Kaupo Kikkas. |
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London, Pizza Express Live, 29 April: One of the most exciting voices in contemporary European jazz, Kjetil Mulelid Trio blends lyrical melodies with rhythmic complexity and rich harmonies. While the trio embody that sense of a calm, unhurried yet constantly unfolding sound world which is distinctively Scandinavian, Mulelid, in concert with bassist Rune Nergaard and drummer Andreas Winther, effortlessly conjure additional layers, tones and textures.
Photo: Eirik Havnes. |
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London, Cafe OTO, 2 May: Comprising young people with Down Syndrome and professional musicians from Oslo’s improv scene, DNA? AND? are an improvisational project unlike any other. The group are making a rare appearance outside their native Norway and performing for the first time in the UK, as part of Dig That Treasure! Festival at Cafe OTO.
Photo: Jelmer de Haas. |
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Chiquitita by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez |
New book release: Chiquitita by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez (translated into English by Seán Kinsella and published by Akoya) follows Marisol as a middle‑aged woman reflecting on her past, triggered by a moment in a museum years earlier when she broke down in front of a painting.
The novel moves between her adult life, a holiday with her first love, and her childhood as a refugee forced to flee her homeland with her parents. From a vibrant early life by the sea, through flight over the mountains and time in a refugee camp, to eventual resettlement in Norway, the story explores trauma, memory, displacement, and the enduring traces of love, hope, and loss. Photo: Eva Lene Gilje Østensen. |
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London, ICA, 14 May: Sassy 009 is the shape-shifting project from Oslo-based producer, songwriter and vocalist Sunniva Lindgård.
After appearing on the cover of NME in December and playing a sold-out night at The Lower Third in February, Sassy 009 will be back in London performing at the ICA, before heading down to Brighton the following night for The Great Escape. |
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Norway at The Great Escape
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Brighton, 13-16 May: New music festival The Great Escape returns to Brighton in May, showcasing 450 emerging artists from all over the world in 30+ walkable venues across the city and a pop-up festival site on Brighton Beach.
On this year's line-up from Norway are:
Thursday at The Hope and Ruin: Yndling (above) is the dream pop project of Norwegian artist and producer Silje Espevik, known for weaving heavy, reverb-soaked guitars through expansive synthscapes, introspective lyrics, and a soft, haunting vocal delivery.
Friday at Daltons: Playing a blistering, genre-crossing variant of rock, Heave Blood & Die is a Northern Norwegian wall of sound, immersing audiences in an unparalleled live sonic experience.
Friday at Quarters: Sassy 009 is following-up her ICA gig with a night at Quarters club under the arches facing Brighton beach. |
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17 May celebrations in Scotland
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17 May, Edinburgh & Aberdeen: Looking to celebrate Norway's National Day in Scotland? The Aberdeen 17 May Committee invites families, the Norwegian community and friends of Norway to celebrate Norway’s Constitution Day at Kippie Lodge on 17 May, featuring live band music, a children’s parade, an interview with a Norwegian guest, food, games, and a raffle. Register by 9 May (contact: asa@sjomannskirken.no).
In Edinburgh, the programme on 17 May will be as follows:
12:45: Assembly for parade, High Street (by the top of Cockburn Street)
13:00: Parade starts
13:30: Ceremony and speeches by the Norwegian memorial stone in Princes Street Garden Photo: Garry’s Photographs © garry@garryirvine.co.uk |
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Anne Iren Buan: Carmine Ashes
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London, Siegfried Contemporary, until 18 July: For her debut solo exhibition in the UK, Oslo-based artist Ann Iren Buan investigates the materiality of drawing, the emotional and atmospheric potential of colour, and the tension between surface and structure.
The artworks on view explore themes of decay, material transformation and renewal. Buan continuously pushes the surface of her drawings towards volume and material presence. Densely layered dry pastel accumulates into thick tactile formations that rupture the picture plane, shifting drawing into the realm of relief and sculpture. Pigment is not applied but built, compressed and worked, producing surfaces that appear both fragile and excessive, at once eroded and generative.
Photo: Anne Iren Buan, Carmine Ashes I, II, III, 2026, drypastel on paper, drypastel and waxoil on birch. Credit: Gillies Adamson Semple. |
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Three Dads and A Baby now on BBC iPlayer |
Available on iPlayer as part of BBC Storyville: First shown in the UK at last year's BFI Flare festival, this intimate and pioneering documentary explores a three-way relationship and a radically different approach to fatherhood. Set against a wider fight for recognition and rights, Storyville: Three Dads And A Baby is a moving portrait of love, resilience and the determination to create new possibilities for family life.
Still courtesy of Indie Film. |
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Catch up with the Fosse Lecture |
Livestreamed from the Royal Palace in Oslo on 23 April and now available to watch online: Established by the Norwegian government in honour of Nobel laureate in Literature Jon Fosse, the annual Fosse Lecture and Fosse Prize for Translation took place this week.
In line with Fosse’s work, the Fosse Lecture aims to bring literature as an art form to the foreground of public discourse around the world. The lecture is delivered each April by an international author, playwright, academic, or intellectual who has made a significant contribution to the understanding or dissemination of literature in their country and beyond.
The Fosse Prize for Translators, awarded in collaboration with NORLA, recognises a translator who has made an outstanding contribution to bringing Norwegian literature into other languages. With a prize sum of NOK 500 000 it is the largest award of its kind.
In 2026 the Fosse Prize is awarded to Paula Stevens, a leading Dutch translator and ambassador for Norwegian literature to Dutch-speaking audiences. The Fosse Lecture is awarded to American author and essayist Marilynne Robinson.
Photo: The Fosse Lecture at the Royal Palace on 24 April 2025. Photo: Gorm K. Gaare / Nasjonalbiblioteket. |
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MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY |
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Happening Now:
▶ Director Kristoffer Borgli has followed up his 2022 comedy-horror film Sick of Myself with The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Out now in cinemas.
▶ Almeida Theatre presents A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Anya Reiss. Nora and Torvald’s marriage vows are a binding contract, but when scandal threatens to wreck their lives, it’s time to renegotiate the terms. Money, sex, power – this time nothing’s off the table. Romola Garai returns to the Almeida, following her Olivier Award-winning performance in The Years, to play Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s subversive domestic tragedy. Until 23 May.
▶ 22 - 25 April, Manchester, Bristol, London Winners of International Success of the Year at the recent Spellemann Awards, Smerz are playing Gorilla in Manchester, followed by The Lantern at Bristol Beacon (sold out) and two nights at Heaven in London (sold out).
▶ 1 & 2 May, Manchester & London
Since 2004, Vreid has carved out a distinct place in Norwegian metal. The band are performing in Manchester and London as part of their Hypocrisy - Mass Hallucination Tour.
▶ 7 May, London
Piano maestro Bugge Wesseltoft makes his Vortex debut in the company of celebrated British improvising percussionist, Mark Wastell.
▶ 5 May, London
Oddgeir Berg Trio are coming to Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. |
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