The front garden
This year's edition of Avanthagen offers, as always, surprising constellations, artists that can rarely be experienced on other Norwegian stages and musicians with a foothold in anything but the mainstream. This year three small sets are presented with Magda Mayas & Tony Buck, Mia Zabelka and John Russell/Ken Vandermark/Ståle Liavik Solberg.
The pianist comes from the prolific music scene in Berlin Magda Mayas and the drummer Tony Buck. Magda Mayas is not a conventional pianist, but uses the instrument's possibilities to produce sounds, both i the instrument and of it – vigilantly followed by Tony Buck.
In other sets, the unconventional Austrian violinist will Mia Zabelka show us what sonic possibilities exist in an electric violin. 'Different genres of music that interest me, from classical music to freely improvised and electronic music, punk, jazz to heavy metal, are filtered by me,' she says. 'From this concentrate I can create a new language, my own very special way of expressing myself.'
In the last set, we meet the English guitarist John Russell, the American saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark and the Norwegian drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg. These are well-known musicians in contemporary, freely improvised (jazz) music. The collaboration between Russell and Liavik Solberg is well established, and they have developed a particularly refined interaction. The versatile Ken Vandermark will ensure that the duo is not tempted to routine and rest!
Magda Mayas (piano) and Tony Buck (drums)
Mia Zabelka (electric violin)
John Russell (guitar)/Ken Vandermark (sax/clarinet)/Ståle Liavik Solberg (drums)
