Nadia B

Was Here

with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

If you wanted to be a composer in the 20th century, there was one person you needed to seek out: Nadia Boulanger. From her Paris apartment, she shaped generations of musicians, from Aaron Copland to Quincy Jones. Her students included radical modernists such as Elliott Carter, musical innovators such as Astor Piazzolla, conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and minimalists such as Philip Glass. Through her teaching and artistic vision, she became one of the most consequential figures in the 20th-century music.

Through music by composers she taught, admired and collaborated with, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra shines a light on artistic legacy, charisma, and how musical ideals and expression evolve with society. Spanning centuries and styles, the programme ranges from Monteverdi and Bach to Piazzolla and Philip Glass, and includes music by Nadia and Lili Boulanger, alongside works by other composers whose lives and music intersected with Nadia’s remarkable legacy. 

Choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen shapes the production’s dramaturgy, while violinist and the NCO’s artistic director Pekka Kuusisto leads the musical direction.

Ahead of the Bergen International Festival, the production will receive its world premiere at London’s Southbank Centre.

The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Photo: Bård Gundersen

Contributors

• The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

• Pekka Kuusisto music director, concept

• Alan Lucien Øyen stage director, concept

• Øystein Sonstad music arranger

Music by

• Nadia Boulanger, Lili Boulanger, Claudio Monteverdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Astor Piazzolla, Igor Stravinsky, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones, among others