Awarded Government Grant for Artists 2019 - Category: Popular Music Composers.
New music will suddenly emerge
Tildelt arbeidsstipend fra Statens Kunstnerstipend 2019 (populærkomponister)
NRK Radio interview with Martin Smidt about the choir work “Luften maker sig mödosamt” - lyrics by Torill Smidt, performed by A Cappellissimo, Rådhussalen Trondheim 27.03.19
Links to programme:
https://radio.nrk.no/program/dktl02006119#t=1h34m2.12s
https://radio.nrk.no/program/dktl02006119#t=1h44m35.24s
The success of GARAGE goes on!
26.-27. March 2019: Cirka Teater, Trondheim (NO) at the Starke Stücke Festival showing outstanding international theater productions for young audiences in the Rhine-Main region
This Cirka Teater production (music by Martin Smidt) has received great reviews, and won the Hedda Prize for best stage design. After the premiere at Turneteatret Trøndelag 2017, GARAGE has toured extensively in Norway, France and Italy - and next week in Frankfurt, Germany.
October 2018: Segni Dínfanzia Festival, Mantova, Italy
October 2018: Tour in Bar-le-Duc, France
26.-27. March 2019: Festival Starke Stücke, Frankfurt
2.-7. September 2019: Assitej Artistic Gathering 2019
Autumn 2019: 6 weeks tour to China (Shanghai, Beijing etc)
——
It’s dirty, smelly, there is smoke, hissing sounds, sometimes something catches fire … two mechanics potter about a cluttered workshop. They are working on a new invention, which once set in motion takes over the entire workshop. Who has control now? Humorously and entirely without wordsm Garage deals with craftsmanship, creativity, the perpetual desire for progress and a chicken, who lays eggs.
Cirka Teater, Trondheim (NO)
Performance: Gilles Berger, Paal Viken Bakke
Director: Espen Dekko
Composer: Martin Smidt
Set design: Gilles Berger
Choreography consultant: Silje Michaele Kvalheim
Costumes: Jenny Hilmo Teig
Illustrator: Ina Sæther berger
Producer: Monica Stendahl Rokne
In collaboration with Turnéteatret i Trøndelag
Working on a new exciting project:
The theatre performance “FYR” is a cooperation between the acclaimed theater company Cirka Teater and Trøndelag Teater.
Opening night: 15. February 2020, Studioscenen Trøndelag teater
Script: Marianne Meløy and Espen Dekko.
Stage design: Gilles Berger
Costume design: Jenny Hilmo Teig
Director: Morten Røsrud
Actors: Marianne Meløy, Anne Marit Sæther, Espen Dekko and more
Music: Martin Smidt
The chamber choir A Cappellissimo invites to another concert with the choir work “Luften maker sig mödosamt” - poems by Torill Smidt, music by Martin Smidt.
Rådhussalen Trondheim folkebibliotek, 27. March 2019, 19:00
Link to Facebook arrangement: https://www.facebook.com/events/292862681418221/
Excerpt from one of the poems:
Grey is
not just grey
On seeing that
she feels the distance
between life and death
Between two nuances of
grey
she sees a space
of grace
The music to Teater Ibsen´s “Jungelboken” will be available on Spotify, ITunes and Tidal from December 2018. The music is composed by SAMME SLAG, aka Sissel Vera Pettersen and Martin Smidt
Sissel Vera Pettersen and Martin Smidt are currently composing music for the new Production at Teater Ibsen (Skien, Norway) - Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”.
Premiere: 29. November 2018.
Director: Janne Brit Rustad
“7 birds in a tree”
A concert tour in Trøndelag, Stockholm, København and Malmö September-October 2018
More details on www.billuca.no
Thursday 27. September 2018:
Performance of improvised theatre music together with Cirka Teater at Småkunstfestivalen 2018
GARAGE is nominated in two categories of the Norwegian Theatre Award, HEDDA-prisen 2018:
Best performance for children
Best stage design (Gilles Berger)
GARAGE is produced by Cirka Teater and Turneteatret i Trøndelag . Director: Espen Dekko, stage design: Gilles Berger, Actors: Gilles Berger and Paal Viken Bakke, Costume design: Jenny Hilmo Teig
The GARAGE Music is composed by Martin Smidt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0uStRXjPk
Klassekampen's theatre critic, Amund Grimstad, has published a review of "Veien mellom huler og tårn”.
http://amund.info/2018/06/veien-mellom-huler-og-tarn/
"Som alle produksjonane til Cirka Teater, er også denne særs visuell og fantasirik. I tillegg er musikken, som er komponert og blir framført av Sissel Vera Pettersen og Martin Smidt, ein integrert og viktig del av totalopplevinga. For denne framsyninga er meir ei oppleving enn ei tradisjonell teateroppsetjing. (...) Ved hjelp av kreativ scenografi, sinnrik lysbruk, faktisk også i scenografien og rekvisittane, og ikkje minst med særs stemningsskapande musikk og vokallyd skapar dei situasjonar, undring, fabulering og draumar. "
A spectacular happening during “Hendelser på Nyhavna 2018” (Events at Nyhavna 2018). Cirka Teater arranged an auction staged as a live performance with numerous actors and musicians. Scenography from 30 years of Cirka Teater Productions was displayed and sold. Musicians: Ole Jørgen Melhus, Erlend Smalås, Ragnhild Faanes, Martin Smidt. Excerpts of theatre music by Martin Smidt, Nils Petter Molvær and Eirik Hegdal
The Chamber choir A Cappelllissimo has commissioned a work of 10 new movements to the choir work "Luften makar sig mödosamt", composed by Martin Smidt (1969-), based on poems by Smidt's twin sister, Torill Smidt (1969-2003).
Premiere for the Complete work (45 minutes, including the 3 movements from 2015) will be in a concert with A Cappellissimo, 7. October 2018 18:00
Two new Cirka Teater Productions have been touring in Norway 2017-2018.
7.-10. June 2018 will the audience of Trondheim get a chance to visit both performances.
GARAGE: Verkstedhallen, Trondheim (Music: Martin Smidt)
VEIEN MELLOM HULER OG TÅRN: (Music: Sissel Vera Pettersen and Martin Smidt)
Tickets and more information: http://cirkateater.no/#/
Barut did a concert tour in Finnmark February 2018. The new Barut lineup is: Hildegunn Øiseth (trumpet, goat horn), Audun Eriksen (didgeridoo, flutes, jew´s harp), Asbjørn Berson (guitar), Svein Schultz (bass), Martin Smidt (drums). Barut played in Karasjok, Kautokeino, Alta, Mehamn and Kjøllefjord. Thank you, Finnmark, for a very warm reception in a great winter weather!
Billuca Ensemble on tour in Piemonte, Italy, 1.-4. December 2017. Presenting excerpts of the Production "Vivaldi - the pasta pesto road show": Vivaldi Music recomposed by Martin Smidt, Tone Sand and Frode Dyrli Angelsen. Supported by Music Norway and Fund of Performing Arts. The tour is arranged by the festival Gli Invaghite, who also invited Billuca to the region in summer 2016.
The two Cirka Teater Productions "Garage" and "The Road between Caves and Towers" are headliners at this year's SHOWBOX festival - a show case for Norwegian performing arts.
The whole Cirka Teater team, including the composers and musicians Sissel Vera Pettersen and Martin Smidt, will be on stage.
Cirka Teater´s innovative and interactive theatre performance for children had premiere this week. The music is composed and performed live by Sissel Vera Pettersen and Martin Smidt.
After several weeks of touring in Norwegian primary schools the autumn 2017 (Den Kulturelle Skolesekken) the production will have its open premiere in spring 2018. It will also be presented at the show case Showbox at Black Box Theatre Oslo 30. November 2017
The choir work "Luften makar sig mödosamt" was performed in the Norwegian Championship for Choirs, October 2017. The chamber choir A Cappellissimo achieved 91 points from the jury and reached the final with their performance of this music by Martin Smidt (lyrics Torill Smidt).
The work was published by Norsk Musikforlag AS in Swedish and English versions in spring 2017 (see link). A Cappellissimo has commissioned an extension of the work into more movements (total 45 minutes) for a premiere in 2018. The Norwegian Composer´s Fund has granted support for the production.
The premiere for Cirka Teater´s Garage was on the opening day for the new theatre house "Turneteatret i Trøndelag". The critics were excited about the performance, and the Adresseavisen critic threw Dice 6, which is rare for theatre performances!
Music by Martin Smidt. Studio musicians: Bendik Lund Haanshus (guitars, bass, banjo), Vegard Lien Bjerkan (Hammond B3, Rhodes, synth), Vebjørn Mamen (vocals), Martin Smidt (drums and sampling)