Saturday 21 March, 15:00
(Doors open at 14:30)
Ris Church
Adult: 350 NOK
Senior/student: 250 NOK
Child: 100 NOK
Duration: approx. 1 hour and 15 minutes
SONGS FROM THE BOOK OF QOHELET
PSALMI ET GENESIS
QOHELET ENSEMBLE:
JO HEGLE SJØFLOT, vocals, accordion, langeleik, flute, guitar
SANDRA BORØY, vocals
MATHIAS HAGEN, saxophone
PER WILLY AASERUD, trumpet
JOHANNES REFSDAL, guitar, mandolin
MARTE GAUTNEB, vocals
ANDREAS RØDLAND HAGA, double bass
“Everything is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” – the Teacher, Ecclesiastes
Musician and theologian Jo Hegle Sjøflot, unites his two fields of study in projects combining classical music, early music, jazz, and folk music with religious texts from all of the world religions. The result is new and exciting musical and cultural encounters. Together with Qohelet Ensemble, Sjøholt presents the work Songs from the Book of Qohelet. Sjøflot has made music for parts of the Hebrew original text of Ecclesiastes from the Old Testament (Hebr. Qohelet), and he himself sings in Hebrew. The grief and beauty of Qohelet’s poetry made Sjøflot think about singing to a child going to sleep. A lullaby about how everything ends; a gentle and friendly reminder of the anxiety that can seize us all when encountering life’s fleetingness and eternity. At the concert, his new work Psalmi et Genesis will also be performed, which explores the story of creation from Genesis and combines this with selected Psalms of David.
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Jo Hegle Sjøflot has studied musicology at the University of Oslo and theology at the Faculty of Theology. His musical background is rooted in classical music, but is also oriented towards jazz and folk music. Sjøflot was trained in Gregorian singing at Lunden and St. Dominikus monastery, and led St. Dominikus vocal ensemble from 2009 to 2016. With this ensemble, he performed his own compositions at the Oslo International Church Music Festival in 2012. Besides working as a freelance musician, Sjøflot works parttime in the organization Areopagos, with theological and practical responsibility for liturgy and music.
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Sandra Borøy is a Norwegian singer, composer, and lyricist. Her albums Sus and Paralleller have garnered acclaim both nationally and internationally, despite the material being in Norwegian. Borøy’s expression is influenced by Nordic jazz, improvisation, ballad tradition, and soul. She has a background as a chorist and soloist in different concepts, and composes music for different constellations. She is also an active choir conductor and music teacher.
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Per Willy Aaserud has been a freelance trumpet player since 1991, both on stage and in the studio, with a main focus on jazz, pop, and folk music. He has played music festivals all over the world and contributed to a number of recordings. Aaserud has collaborated with artists such as Gisle Børge Styve Trio, FriEnsemblet, Georg Buljo, and Niko Valkepää.
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Saxophone player and composer Mathias Hagen has worked with a wide range of different projects, with tours and concerts in Scandinavia, Estonia, Scotland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, South Africa, Italy, and Nepal. As bandleader, he has also had two long-lasting groups, New Eyes and GARDEN, both of whom have album releases coming. His last album, Pilgrim, was released in 2024 at Losen Records. In 2018, he was given the “Giorgio Gaslini International Award”.
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Marte Gautneb has a diverse artistic career, spanning both visual art and music. She is a trained sculptor at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, and works as a musician both with vocals, nyckelharpa, and Hardanger fiddle. Gautneb has contributed as a vocalist in Qohelet Ensemble since the foundation of the ensemble.
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Andreas Rødland Haga is a double bass player educated at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He has played for a number of artists and participated in projects within jazz and pop, both live and in the studio. He also has several jazz projects of his own, and plays an active part in the musical scene.
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Johannes Refsdal is a multi-instrumentalist, artist, and lyricist. During his 13 years in the UK, he was co-founder of the indie folk band Bear’s Den and played with a number of other artists, such as Mumford & Sons, Ben Howard, Michael Kiwanuka, The Staves, and others. He moved back to Norway in 2020, and releases music of his own under the stage name John Revelle.
Photo: Jo Hegle Sjøflot: Julia Marie Naglestad, Qohelet Ensemble: Sina Vestøl
