"Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, composer and performer (born Dec. 29th 1973 in Trondheim, Norway), finished composition studies at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo in 2000. Her music is performed worldwide by performers such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Fretwork, TM+, Cikada, Mivos and Bozzini string quartets, Quatuor Renoir, crashEnsemble, Pearls for Swine Experience, Torben Snekkestad, Marianne Beate Kielland, SPUNK, Frode Haltli, POING and many more. Portrait concerts with her music has been heard in Toronto and Vienna, she has been composer in residence at festivals like Other Minds in San Francisco, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Nordland Music Festival in Bodø, Avanti! Summer Festival in Finland, Båstad Chamber Music Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Ratkje has received awards such as the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for composers below 30 years of age, the Norwegian Edvard prize (work of the year) twice, second prize at the Russolo Foundation, and in 2001 she was the first composer ever to receive the Norwegian Arne Nordheim prize. Her solo album Voice, made in collaboration with Jazzkammer, got a Distinction Award at Prix Ars Electronica in 2003. In 2013 she was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize for her vocal work.

Ratkje is active as a singer/voice user and electronics performer and engineer, as a soloist or in groups such as SPUNK and BRAK RUG. She has been soloist with orchestras such as The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Other collaborations are with Jaap Blonk, Joëlle Léandre, Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, Stephen O'Malley, Lasse Marhaug, POING and many more. Ratkje has performed her own music for films, dance and theatre, installations, and numerous other projects. Visual art or text material is often a part of her own work, in installations or staged works. She has made large gallery works with SPUNK, she has made music for a radio play by Elfriede Jelinek, and in 2003, she played a part in her own opera, based on the texts from the Nag Hammadi Library.

Her scores are found at the National Library of Norway's publishing service, NB noter, and her records are released on Tzadik, Rune Grammofon, 2L, ECM, Important Records and many other labels."

Stine Janvin Motland (Joh): "Performer and composer from Stavanger, Norway

Working with extended vocal techniques, she explores and pushes the frontiers of the natural acoustics of the voice and what a singer can, and cannot be. In addition to her own solo work, and her performance group Brigitte & Paula band, she sometimes performs with the ensembles Song Circus and Aksiom. She also collaborates and performs with a number of experimenting composers and improvising musicians, as well as taking part in art, dance and theatre projects around the world. "

"Over the past 15 years, Britt Pernille Frøholm has become a highly acclaimed musician and promoter of international musical collaborations in many formats and forms. With her many critically acclaimed albums in several different genres and with various bands, she has toured large parts of the world, won awards and received scholarships both locally and nationally for her art, and had prestigious solo concerts at some of the largest and most important festivals for both folk and art music. Through this, she has exposed Norwegian traditional music and the harding fiddle to a large international audience who without her efforts would not have met this music.

For many years she has shown great ingenuity and curiosity, through fearless development and testing of new ways of using the Harding fiddle and Norwegian folk music. From using electronic means, to expanding the playing techniques with inspiration from many different fields, such as contemporary music, jazz, pop music and improvisation. She has also commissioned many new works by both Norwegian and foreign composers, in addition to being a very productive composer of new Norwegian country music in both traditional and modern style.

The foundation of her work is the folk music tradition she has grown up in Nordfjord. She was introduced to local music early on through her grandfather Matias Frøholm and has later studied with Arne M. Sølvberg and Finn Vabø. Frøholm is a graduate of the Ole Bull Academy and has a Master's degree in Traditional Art from Telemark University College. In recent years she has worked actively with three different solo projects; Northwest, where she cultivates traditional music from the northwest, Resonance which is improvised and self-composed music and Poems for Hardanger fiddle where she invites contemporary composers to write new works for hard fiddle."

"Didrik Ingvaldsen has pursued a career as a Jazz musician, composer and educator since 1984.

Born and raised in Norway, Didrik Ingvaldsen has compiled credentials that span the world of music, from conservatory studies at Juilliard to participation in the NYC downtown jazz scene, lecturing at the Leeds College of Music UK, and teaching brass music in Tanzania and the Faroe Islands.

Didrik Ingvaldsen has performed with many ensembles including Stavanger Kitchen Orchestra, Bergen Big Band, UMO Big Band, Inbal Pinto Dance Company, Ulrich Gumpert Workshop Band, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker, a.o. His own major band projects are POCKET CORNER and NOCZ Quartet. EXTENDED CORNER and DIDRIK INGVALDSEN ORCHESTRA (CZ)"

"Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier."

"Lene Grenager studied composition and the cello at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo under Aage Kvalbein (cello), Olav Anton Thommessen and Alfred Janson (composition). She has also attended seminars and lectures with the following composers: Louis Andriessen, Gerard Grisey, George Benjamin, Brian Ferneyhough, Magnus Lindberg, Philip Manoury, Iannis Xenakis, Tristan Murail, Klas Torstensson, Alejandro Vinao, Bent Sørensen, James Dillon, Trevor Wishart and Judith Weir.

Currently (2009-2013) she holds a five year work grant from the Norwegian State, and the same institution awarded her a three year work grant (2002-2004) for Young Artists. She has also been awarded grants from Fegerstens Legat, Komponistenes vederlagsfond and TONO. In 2002 she was awarded the Lindeman Prize for young composers. From 1999 till 2001 she held a scholarship position in composition at Agder University College. From 1998 she is a member of the Norwegian Society of Composers.

Grenager works both as composer and musician. She has been working professionally since 1995 with commissions from a.o. Cikada, Ensemble Ernst, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Bodø Sinfonietta, Nordic Music Days, Fylkingen and Affinis ensemble. She has had portrait concerts at the festivals Ultima, Borealis and Ilios and her works has been performed at festivals and concerts all over Europe. She finds it important that the musicians own voices and choices are reflected in the performances of her works but simultaneously that the core of the work is clearly defined from her hand. This has resulted in a great variety of notational techniques and richness in detail in the different scores. Grenager"s work as performing improvisational musician has also influenced her compositions. She tours extensively all over the world with the improvisation bandsSPUNK, Lemur and with Sofia Jernberg. She has also cooperated closely with dancers, visual artists and actors.

Grenager participates on some 20 recordings as composer, musician and producer a.o. "Affinis-suite" (+3db), "Slåtter, slag og slark" (Euridice) og "Systema naturae" (Øra), and with SPUNK (Rune Grammofon), Lemur (+3db) og Jernberg/Grenager (olofbright)."

"Tanja Orning is a cellist, music researcher and composer from Oslo.

Orning specializes in working with and performing new and experimental music, including both notated and improvised music. Orning studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NAM), in London with William Pleeth and in the USA with Janos Starker as a Fulbright Fellow (MA in Performance at Indiana University). Orning held the position of co-principal cellist in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (1994-2000) while teaching at the conservatory. She left her orchestral job in 2000 to realize her own musical and interdisciplinary projects as a performer, improviser and composer, alone and in various ensembles: Cellotronics (solo), asamisimasa (Norwegian Grammy 2012 and 2015), Kyberia duo, Ametri string quartet, Oslo Sinfonietta, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Boa trio, Dr. Ox duo, Wunderkammer, Sound of Movement with dancer Ellen Johannesen and the Performance Group Mobile Homes. She regularly plays with the Lemur ensemble, Oslo Sinfonietta and Ensemble Ernst. As an improviser, she has been part of the improv community in Norway in collaboration with e.g. Lemur, Christian Wallumrød, Trygve Seim, Michael Duck, Lene Grenager, Ståle Storløkken, Eivind Lønning, Kjetil Gutvik, Natasha Barrett, Per Zanussi, Helga Myhr.

A common thread in Orning's musical world has been a close collaboration with composers to realize new works. Orning has commissioned and premiered about 150 new works by composers in Norway and abroad, including Simon Steen-Andersen, Natasha Barrett, Øyvind Torvund, Trond Reinholdtsen, Maja Ratkje, Annesley Black, Kristine Tjøgersen, Simon Løffler and Mathias Spahlinger. She has performed at festivals such as Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Huddersfield, Ultima, Ultraschall, Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, Olavsfestdagene, Trondheim kammermusikkfest, Molde jazzfestival, Kongsberg jazzfestival, Vossajazz, Novara Jazz Festival, Shared Sounds (Berlin) and Taktlos (Zürich). Orning has composed solo and chamber music and for the symphony, and is i.a. performed at the Ultima Festival, Dark Music Days (Reykjavik) and around Norway.

Orning has participated in a number of recordings of contemporary music, and in 2005 she released her solo album Cellotronics (Albedo). In 2000, she received a 2-year Government Grant for Young Artists. She is the jury leader for the Arne Nordheim Composer Award established by the Ministry of Culture. She has several years of experience as a committee member and leader in the Norwegian Cultural Council. Orning has a doctorate in the field of performance practice from NAM (2014). The dissertation "The Polyphonic Performer", examines how the role of contemporary musicians is expressed and understood in different contexts, and how this is expressed in experiences with performers. This was investigated through practising and performing cello solo works by Helmut Lachenmann, Morton Feldman, Klaus K. Hübler and Simon Steen-Andersen. She worked as a postdoc at the Norwegian Academy of Music 2015-20 in a project "Towards a new performing role in the 21st century. A study of the portfolio musician's qualification requirements in a globalized work and music life." Orning worked as an associate professor and researcher in modern music history, performance practice, work interpretation and aesthetics at the University of Oslo from 2014-2015. She was also employed as an associate professor at the Barratt-Due Music Institute 2014-2015. At the Norwegian Academy of Music, she teaches contemporary music, development of artistic projects, and she supervises Master students and Artistic research fellows. Orning is also appointed Professor of Classical Music Improvisation at the University of Agder."

"Jasper Stadhouders (Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1989) is a guitarist and bassist based in Amsterdam. He's performed music on stage since the age of 8. He is an active member of the international improvised music circuit. He is a co-founder of the bands Cactus Truck (with John Dikeman and Onno Govaert), Stadhouders/Govaert/De Joode Trio and two duos with percussionists Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and Nicolas Field. He is also part of such diverse bands as Spinifex and Lily's Déjà Vu, next to playing countless of ad hoc improv shows. Jasper also occasionally works in the fields of dance, theatre and contemporary composed music. He has played with Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Paal Nilssen-Love, Marshall Allen, Wolter Wierbos, Noel Redding, Ken Vandermark, Jim Black, Andrew D'Angelo, Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Peter Evans, Frank Rosaly, Dave Rempis, Roy Campbell, Michael Moore, Jeb Bishop, Peter Jacquemyn, Wally Shoup, Ingrid Laubrock, Mars Williams, Michael Vatcher, Alan Wilkinson and many more. Jasper has performed extensively in Europe and the USA, as well as in India."

"Mats Aleklint is a freelance trombone player, born 1979, that lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

I work mostly in the fields of improvisation and jazz, but also blues, soul, theater music, pop and rock. I have been working as a freelance since the year 2000, and touring in Sweden, Norway, Canada, Slovenia, Portugal, England, Germany, and many other countries. Toured with/Recorded with: Alberto Pinton Quintet, YunKan10, Torbjörn Zetterberg Octet, Norrbotten Big Band, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Dave Holland, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Goran Kajfes Subtropic Arkestra, The Thing XXL, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Brus Trio+2, Big Band Splash, Per-Henrik Wallin, Harmonica Henry, Lisa Ullén Quartet, Blacknuss, Angles, Je Suis!, All Included, LED, and many many others. I also have a band of my own, Mats Äleklint Kvartett."

"Nils Henrik Asheim (b.1960), Norwegian composer and organist, is also active as a pianist and curator. He has written several chamber music pieces, works for symphony orchestra, organ and choir, as well as projects in public space and also using theatrical elements.

Asheim's compositional style is characterized by a modernist attitude, often focused on sonic and tactile aspects. His music is usually built up of several parallel layers of time, where recurring material is varied, creating a form that seems open and self-generating.

Asheim has been acclaimed by critics for his personal style of improvisation on the organ. Since 2012 he has made his mark as the resident organist of the new concert hall in Stavanger. Here he has displayed an innovative way of programming activities around the organ, and managed to get a large audience for the instrument.

Asheim started out as a composition pupil of Olav Anton Thommessen and made his début at the UNM nordic festival for young composers in Helsinki at the early age of fifteen. In 1978 he was awarded the EBU Rostrum prize for his work Ensemblemusikk for 5. He subsequently went on to study organ and composing at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam.

In 2018 Asheim was awarded the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize for "Muohta - Language of Snow". He is also a recipient of the Norwegian Music Critics' Prize, the Norwegian Music Publishers' Prize, the Arne Nordheim prize, the Edvard prize and the Lindeman prize, as well as twice the Spellemannspris (Norwegian "Grammy"). In 2018 Nils Henrik Asheim was made a Knight of the Royal Order of St.Olav."

"Frode Haltli (b. 1975, Norway) began playing the accordion at the age of seven. As a child he played folk music but soon moved into different forms. Playing music by composers such as Pietr Fiala, Per Nørgård, Arne Nordheim as well as classical music, he swiftly developed exceptional instrumental skills alongside a deep understanding of new music.

In his early years he won numerous national contests, raising interest in and appreciation of the accordion to unprecedented heights. Haltli studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music with prof. Jon Faukstad, then at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen with Geir Draugsvoll and James Crabb, graduating in 2000. In 2001 the Norwegian Concert Institute named him Young Soloist Of The Year, he was also placed second in the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition 1999 in the Netherlands.

Concerts throughout Europe as well as several other parts of the world, including the USA, Canada and Asia, raised awareness still further. Directing his career into explorations of new music, he became associated with like-minded musicians mainly in Europe where the development of adventurous forms has grown throughout recent years.

Haltli has established links with several composers, notably Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje who is one of several who have written especially for him; others include Bent Sørensen, Rolf Wallin, Atli Ingólfsson, Hans Abrahamsen, Jo Kondo and Sam Hayden. He has also worked as a composer himself, making music for theatre plays, the commissioned work 'The Border Woods' (Osa Festival 2015), and together with Maja S.K. Ratkje he composed the music for Elifriede Jelinek's 'NEID' (Bayerischer Rundfunk 2011).

Haltli has a broad repertoire of contemporary classical works, including several concertos for the accordion, appearing with string orchestras, sinfoniettas and symphonic orchestras world wide. He has also cooperated with several string quartets.

His debut CD 'Looking on Darkness' was released on the prestiguos German record label ECM in 2002. It was very well recieved, Hilary Finch in the BBC Music Magazine wrote: 'Still in his twenties, the young Norwegian accordionist Frode Haltli is clearly a performer of comparable gifts and imagination, whose astonishing virtuosity has inspired many Scandinavian composers. This debut solo presents five challenging new works which explore the furthest sonic regions of the instrument.'

Haltli released 'Arne Nordheim Complete Accordion Works' (Simax 2012) to great critical acclaim, followed by 'Vagabonde Blu' (Hubro 2014), a live solo recording from the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum featuring works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Aldo Clementi and Arne Nordheim. On the album 'Air' (ECM 2016) he recorded music for accordion and strings by Hans Abrahamsen and Bent Sørensen with the Arditti Quartet and the Trondheim Soloists. On his 2007 recording 'Passing Images' (ECM), Haltli is joined by trumpeter Arve Henriksen, viola player Garth Knox, and vocalist Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, for a selection of lyrical explorations of folk themes couched in the form of contemporary improvised music. This is developed further on the albums 'Avant Folk' (Hubro 2018) and 'Border Woods' (Hubro 2019), which both features Haltli's own music based inspiration from traditional music as well as improvisation and more experimental music. In 2020 he released a lockdown single and music video with his Avant Folk ensemble, entitled 'Quarantine Quilt' (Hubro), as well as the triple digital album 'Selected Solo Works, Vol. 1-2' (SMP) with works from composers Edison Denisov, James Dillon, Leif Kayser, Rolf Wallin, Maja S.K. Ratkje, Ørjan Matre, Robert HP Platz and Magnar Åm.

Since 1999 he has played regularly with the trio POING, alongside saxophonist Rolf-Erik Nystrøm and double bass player Håkon Thelin. They have commissioned more than a 100 works from composers all over the world and recorded several albums as a trio and in combination with everything from the Oslo Philharmonic, via drummer legend Paul Lovens to the two albums 'Wach auf' (Øra Fonogram 2011) and 'Kapital & Moral' (Grappa 2016) with vocalist Maja S.K. Ratkje.

Trygve Seim has been an important associate of Haltli since he joined Seim's large ensemble in 2000 and made contributions to the records 'The Source and Different Cikadas' (2002) and 'Sangam' (ECM 2004). Since the release of their duo album "Yeraz" (ECM 2008) they have toured frequently together in a duo format, but also with Seim's quartet 'Rumi Songs' (ECM 2016) and in other combinations.

Frode Haltli has developed several transcultural music projects, in India, China, Japan, North Korea, Egypt. He has also played music rooted in Norwegian traditional music, notably with RUSK in which he is teamed with singer Unni Løvlid and violinist Vegar Vårdal. This theme and combination of old and new music is further delevoped in duo with Norwegian violinist Gjermund Larsen, in The Snowflake Trio with Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy and Norwegian fiddler Vegar Vårdal, as well as in a trio with fiddle player Ragnhild Furebotten and the Swedish nyckelharpa player Emilia Amper.

Frode Haltli has held master classes at music academies in Copenhagen, Oslo, Graz, Lucerne, Lodz and at at number of festivals. From 2011 to 2017 he was teaching accordion at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, but is today a full-time freelance musicians and composer based in Svartskog, Norway."

"Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b. 1971, Oppdal) - studied Jazz at the Music Consevatory in Trondheim, Norway (1992-1995) under the tutelage of bassplayer Odd Magne Gridseth.

When one listens to the great bassists in modern jazz history, a striking thing (though it may not be immediately arrived at) is that greatness is reached through open-mindedness and diversity. William Parker, Malachi Favors Maghostut, Peter Kowald, Wilbur Ware, Bertram Turetsky, Buell Neidlinger - all of these bass players have embraced a lifestyle of playing all sorts of music and the breadth of each musicians' technique is a testament to those experiences. Norwegian bassist and composer Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is also a musician whose experience is both geographical and aesthetic. While the fertile Scandinavian new jazz scene offered a vast amount of opportunities to work in different bands with musicians whose concepts are as individual as the grains in a reed, Flaten has found home and on-the-bandstand education in places as far flung as Chicago and his current residence Austin, Texas.

A muscular player whose tone and attack run the gamut from Paul Chambers to Buschi Niebergall, his sense of both openness and control serves ensembles as diverse as The Thing, Free Fall, Atomic, Scorch Trio and the Kornstad/Håker Flaten Duo. In addition to his own Chicago Sextet and Austin-centric Young Mothers, Flaten has also recorded and performed with Frode Gjerstad, Dave Rempis, Bobby Bradford, the AALY Trio, Ken Vandermark, Stephen Gauci, Tony Malaby, Daniel Levin, Dennis Gonzalez and numerous others. Flaten studied at the Conservatory in Trondheim (1992-1995), turning professional shortly afterward, yet his hunger to play in new situations with new musicians - schooled or amateur, frequently recorded or just starting out - puts him in a rare class, that of a truly broad-minded artist. That mettle has served him well, living and developing the music under his own steam and drawing from influences as diverse as Derek Bailey, George Russell, Chris McGregor, filmmakers Ingmar Bergman, contemporary pop melody and gritty punk music as well as everyday sights and sounds.

There is a calmness and self-assuredness that imbues all great artists, in that the diversity of their work comes with very little ego. Flaten's artistry is often in collective, leaderless ensembles and in fact, following a decade of professional musicianship it wasn't until 2004 that his leader-debut was released - Quintet (Jazzland, followed in 2008 by The Year of the Boar, and a Sextet recording is upcoming). This latter fact is partly due to the necessity of a copacetic situation - in an interview in 2010 with the Austinist he noted that "I use people where I'm located. It's inspiring to have your own band to write for, but you have to make sure that people feel free and not limited by the music; the compositions should lead the way to a player's open mind, and that is a challenge." Certainly not every bandleader/composer thinks this way.

In 2011, he formed another ensemble, The Young Mothers, which includes drummers Stefan Gonzalez (Dallas) and Frank Rosaly (Chicago), trumpeter/poet/rapper Jawaad Taylor (New York), saxophonist Jason Jackson (Houston), and Jonathan Horne (Austin) on guitar. It's a group of varying levels and influences and as it grows organically, will be another excellent lens through which to view Flaten's aesthetic, philosophy, and musicianship. The next few years see him in a position where established ensembles can steep and spread their influence, while experimenting with and nurturing a wide range of new relationships."

"Born in 1977, Per Zanussi grew up in Stavanger with an Italian father and Norwegian mother. He started playing various instruments at five but picked up the bass at 13 playing in rock bands. After discovering jazz he quickly switched to double bass.

Zanussi has a Masters degree in music from the Conservatory in Trondheim and the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, concentrating on double bass and composition. His compositional work has so far resulted in music for prize winning theatre and dance performances and short films as well as comissions for Bit 20, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and and Stavanger's Kitchen Orchestra.

He is currently a research fellow at the University of Stavanger through the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme.

In 1996, while still a student in Trondheim he founded the electronic project Wibutee together with Håkon Kornstad and Wetle Holte.This outfit recorded 3 albums with Zanussi and toured most of the world in the following years.In 2001 he founded his longest lasting project to date, Zanussi 5, playing Zanussi's compositions in an acoustic format. This group has recorded 4 quintet albums and a fifth as a version of Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, a twelve piece group including Zanussi 5. In 2012 the album "Live" by Zanussi 13 was released : A 13 piece version of Zanussi 5 consisting of the core group, plus all the musicians that have played with the band over the years, among them Jonas Kullhammar and Stian Westerhus.Zanussi also leads his new eleven piece group, Per Zanussi Ensemble. This is a vehicle for Zanussi's compositions for free improvisors, and includes musicians such as Sofia Jernberg, Eivind Lønning and David Stackenäs. This group is also a part of an ongoing research project by Zanussi through the Norwegian Programme for Artistic Research and the University of Stavanger.Zanussi is a member of Trespass Trio (with Martin Kuchen and Raymond Strid) and several other projects and has recorded or played on occasion with John Butcher, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Hamid Drake, Lotte Anker, Paal Nilssen-Love, Bobby Bradford, Eivind Lønning, Frode Gjerstad, Sabir Mateen, Franklin Kiermyer, Stephen O'Malley, Axel Dörner, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Sten Sandell, Mats Gustafsson, Morten J. Olsen, Seijiro Muriyama, Magda Mayas, Sten Åke Holmlander, Louis Moholo, Kjetil Møster, Gabriel Ferrandini, David Stackenäs, Kjell Nordeson, Sofia Jernberg, Kevin Norton, Ivar Grydeland, Ernesto Rodrigues, Tetuzi Akiyama, Christian Wallumrød, Ståle L. Solberg and others."

"Dag Erik Knedal Andersen (born 5th of November 1983) is an award winning Norwegian drummer and improviser based in Oslo.

Knedal Andersen had originally planned to become an engineer, but at the age of 16 he discovered the dubious joy of jazz and improvised music, and hence there were no turning back. After buying all the records he could lay his hands on at that time, he soon found himself studying jazz at the Conservatory of Music in Trondheim. After his graduation in 2008, he moved to Berlin for a brief period of time, before moving to Oslo to do a masters degree in improvised music at the Norwegian State Academy of Music.

Perhaps best known for his "hyperactive-take-no-prisoners" approach to drumming, he has been an ubiquitous musician on the Norwegian improvised music scene over the last couple of years, as well as touring all over Europe with groups such as SAKA and AKODE. In 2010 he received the Molde International Jazz Festival's "Talent of the year" award. In addition to his regular groups, he has performed with among others Axel Dörner, Alan Wilkinson, John Butcher, Thomas Lehn, Frode Gjerstad, Fredrik Ljungkvist, Pat Thomas, Jørgen Mathisen, Akira Sakata, Tobias Delius, Alex Ward, Dominic Lash, Rudi Mahall, Lasse Marhaug, Martin Küchen, Birgit Ulher, Maja Ratkje, John Edwards, Kjetil Møster and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten."