DNA?AND?

& Lampeknusekontoret

with Otomo Yoshihide

What do you get when you combine one of the world’s greatest artists in electroacoustic improvisational music – Otomo Yoshihide – with young music-lovers with cognitive differences?

DNA?AND? and Lampeknusekontoret are two ensembles cut from the same cloth: young people with learning disabilities making improvised music together with professional musicians.

Otomo Yoshihide is an internationally renowned noise, jazz and improvisation musician, whose work ranges from film music to pop. For many years he has been active in the sound-project Otoasobi, which uses methods similar to the musicians performing this evening.

Eight of the eleven members of the Oslo-based music collective DNA?AND? have Down syndrome, while the remaining three are missing the extra chromosome. The collective has performed at large festivals for experimental music, such as Ultima and Le Guess Who?, and has been invited to the renowned contemporary music venue Café OTO in London in 2026.

Lampeknusekontoret began as an extension of DNA?AND? and is a Stavanger-based group of young people with autism and other cognitive differences. They have worked closely with Bergen-based artists Jørgen Træen and Knut Vaage, the latter who is also featured on this year’s Festival with the chamber opera The Night People.

Ahead of the concert at Østre, there will be open rehearsals with the artists from 15:00–18:00. Audience members are welcome to drop in and listen as the rehearsals take place, and the bar will be open between the rehearsals and the concert.

DNA?AND? Photo: Jelmer de Haas

Open rehearsals

15:00–18:00 Open rehearsals with the artists at Østre. Audience is welcome to drop by, and no tickets required.

The bar at Østre is open between rehearsals and the concert, in addition to during the concert.

Practical information

• No age limit

• Unnumbered seating

Contributors

• DNA? AND?
  Ola Skarsæterhagen, Lene Høie, Vilde Erikstad, Vilja Ellefsen-Larsen, Isaaq Ibrahim, Mats Aase Henriksen, Johannes Tjøtta Svendsen, Jostein Hylin, Dag Erik Knedal Andersen, Marie Bergby Handeland, Harald Fetveit

• Lampeknusekontoret
  Thore Warland, Signe Irene Time, Kristoffer Riis, Jonathan Erevik, Peder Knudsen, Emma Stokka, Andreas Røed, William Johnsen

• Otomo Yoshihide

A collaboration between

Bergen International Festival, Østre and NyMusikkBergen