As most large cities in Europe, Oslo is also in lockdown, not counting Black Friday of course! But we are actually lucky enough to have some activity at our club Victoria in these times: Students are allowed to hold concerts for each other as a part of their education, and next week we are hoping to film a couple of concerts that will emerge around the start of the year.

At Nasjonal jazzscene, we are typing with our fingers crossed, releasing 50 tickets for sale to each concert on our Spring program. An almost 100%  Norwegian line up of great names and artists from the extraordinary rich well of home bred musicians. Our opening weekend, January 22 and 23rd, presents Hedvig Mollestad Trio who come fresh out of the studio recording new music. Håkon Kornstad will play two solo concerts, also he has used this time to work on a new, amazing release. You can hear a fantastic performance by Hedvig Mollestad with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra called Maternity Beat that was streamed via EFG London Jazz Festival 2020 here: https://youtu.be/BQvu2C09orY. You can also listen to excerpts from Håkon Kornstad's new album here: https://youtu.be/nt3oWj4RVWI or here: https://orcd.co/ve9l1m4

Further on, we are looking forward to performances by John Surman - Valhalla, Emmeluth’s Amoeba, Eivind Aarset, RYMDEN, Mats Eilertsen Trio, Maria Kannegaard Trio, Elephant9 and many more. You can find our program here: https://nasjonaljazzscene.no/arrangement/

Of course we long to have international musicians on our program, the mix is an inspiration for both our audience and the Norwegian artists. So we hold our fingers crossed, keep our chin up, plan and wish for the best in 2021!

Love from Oslo, Norway, with hope to see you all very soon!

Photo: Hedvig Mollestad Trio by Kristin Stoylen