Eirik Hegdal receives the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's major musician prize
Saxophonist and composer Eirik Hegdal receives the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's big musician prize of NOK 200.000. The award will go to a musician who has made a strong mark on the Norwegian jazz scene. It was during today's opening of the Kongsberg Jazz Festival, where Minister of Culture Trine Skei Grande gave the official opening speech, that the distribution took place.
In the jury's reasoning, emphasis is placed on the award winner's diverse work. For a long period he was the artistic director of TRondheim Jazz Orchestra and during this time led the orchestra to a number of artistic triumphs - several times in collaboration with international greats such as Joshua Redman and Dave Holland. As a composer, he has written works for the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Vertavo Quartet and the Trondheim Sinfonietta - in addition to countless jazz compositions for both his own and other bands. He has even – in collaboration with Asle Karstad and Trondheim Voices – won one Hedda price for audio-visual design and sound design for the theater performance Hundre hemmelegel.
- The jury also wishes to emphasize Eirik Hegdal's outstanding abilities as an instrumentalist, and his educational work. Eirik Hegdal is a musical powerhouse, not just for Trondheim, but for the whole country, says Tor Dalaker Lund, member of the jury for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's musician prize.
A significant jazz award
The Kongsberg Jazz Festival's big musician prize (formerly the DNB prize) will go to a performer who has made a mark on the Norwegian jazz scene, and who at the same time shows potential for further development - both nationally and internationally. The jury believes that this year's award winner meets these criteria by a good margin. As part of the award, the award winner holds a concert at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival the following year. The award recipients from the last two years, Susanna Wallumrød (2016) and Marius Neset (2017) have both returned to the festival the following year and performed three unique concerts in three different constellations.
