MOVING CELLIST – 2023

A lone cellist performs in the wood-panelled exhibition hall at the old Munch Museum. Marks on the walls show where Edvard Munch’s monumental painting ‘The Sun’ used to hang. This is ‘Moving Cellist’ (Bveget cellist), a choreographed concert devised by Gunhild Bjørnsgaard and cellist and composer Tanja Orning. The piece has a biographical backstory. Moving around the darkened space with a cello that has accompanied her through life since she was 9, Orning explores her bodily relationship with her instrument. Electronics, and the acoustics of the building play a part in making the cello resonate in the space. Bjørnsgaard’s choreographic work expands the musician’s physical expression, seeking a dramatic evolution of both sound and body within the spatial context. Music is visualised through movement, and the movements Orning makes affect the music in in an amalgamation of instrument, bow, body, acoustic, sound and spatiality.

Tour and Residency:

2nd of July 2023: Premiere at Risør Chamber Music Festival.

21st of September 2023: ULTIMA contemporary music festival at Old Munch-museum.

Autumn 2023 and Spring 2024: Dovre municipality activity house, RING – Scène périphérique, Toulouse/France, DansiT – Choreographic center/Trondheim.

Idea/consept/choreography: Gunhild Bjørnsgaard

Composer/cellist/mover: Tanja Orning

Sound technician: Louise Lavoll

Light technician-design: Johannes Ljøkjel

Production: Company B. Valiente

Project is supported by: Norsk kulturdirektoratet: Prosjektstøtte scenekunst-Dans / Andre musikktiltak / Turne og virksomhetstilskudd, Fond for lyd og bilde, Innlandet Fylkeskommune, Fond for utøvende kunstnere, UD/DTS reisestøtte.

Thanks to: Marcelino Valiente and Christian Wallumrød, Old Munch-museum/Ilse Hviding/Oslo.