Music Information Beyond Politics, Market, And Media - KEY SPEAKERS
Bergen, Norway 27-28 May 2004
Valgerd Svarstad HAUGLAND
Valgerd Svarstad Haugland (born 1956) has been a central politician in the Norwegian Christian Democratic Party, as a deputy leader from1991 and leader in the years 1997-2004. She was elected member of the Parliament in 1993. In 1997-2000 she was the Minister of the Children- and Family Matters.
Haugland has been the Minister of Church and Culture since October 2001. In addition to the cultural politics she is responsible for the fields of media, sports, church, games and lottery. As a Cultural Minister she has campaigned for a number of important political matters: In 2003 she presented a cultural report drawing the main lines of Norwegian cultural politics for the next ten years. An overall goal for the cultural politics of this government is to secure a cultural diversity both nationally and internationally, while giving equal priority to quality as a decisive criterion in the state cultural politics.
The greatest cultural political matter in her term has been the building of a new opera house in Oslo, as decided by the Parliament in 2002. The new opera house is to be opened in 2008 and is likely to become a driving force for Norwegian opera and ballet. Valgerd Svarstad Haugland has also made a name for herself as an unafraid media politician.
Jostein GRIPSRUD
Jostein Gripsrud is Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Information and Media at the University of Bergen. He led a research group that in 2002 produced a report for the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs on the position of popular music in Norwegian cultural policies and was 1996-99 the first chair of the Public Service Broadcasting Council, appointed by the Ministry of Culture to oversee the performance of radio and television companies with public service obligations.
He has published extensively in several languages on the theory, history, aesthetics and politics of theatre, literature, film and television, and also on cultural policy and the sociology of culture in general. 1999-2001 he directed the research program *Cultural Disorder: Processes of Change in the Aesthetic Field*, which also resulted in a six-part television series, written and hosted by Gripsrud, broadcast 2003 by the Norwiegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). He is at present a team leader and member of the Core Steering Group of the European Science Foundation's research project *Changing Media, Changing Europe*. Gripsrud writes on a regular basis for three Norwegian newspapers and also co-curated the annual regional art exhibition for Western Norway, *Vestlandsutstillingen*, 2004.
Halvor MANSHAUS
Halvor Manshaus (born 1974) is Senior Associate Lawyer with the lawfirm Schjødt in Oslo. His practice covers litigation, intellectual property, media, offshore and technology.
Manshaus represented Jon Johansen in the "DVD-case", in which Johansen was charged with breaking the protective systems on DVD's. Johansen was 15 years old at the time (1999) and faced two trials, as the case was tried in the City Court and the Court of Appeals. Johansen was fully acquitted both times. This case awakened enormous international interest, and was an important testing ground for modern European copyright legislation.
This is the same legislation that regulates the control and distribution of music in digital form, both on CD records and through open networks such as the Internet.
Pia RAUG
Pia Raug (born 1953) is a Danish songwriter, composer, author, singer and musician. Since 1978 she has released a large number of recordings and books. As an author she has written on moral, ethics and experiences of death. She has made a name for herself as a poet, and in the year 2000 she made her debut as a novelist.
Pia Raug is a modern troubadour who, without compromise, has challenged the limits of music and language. Her songs, written with nerve, heart and brain, describe the contrasts of life without sentimentality. She often performs in minor venues, where she, with tales from her own experiences and political attitudes, puts her songs into perspective.
Throughout her career Pia Raug has been a politically engaged artist, who has supported peace movements, Amnesty International, and the movement against the EU. Through her long career in the Danish composers' union for jazz, beat and folk music, she has acted as a political spokesman for popular music. She has been a member of the Danish Music Council, the council of the Danish performing rights society KODA, and the Nordic Music Committee NOMUS. Since 2003 she has chaired the Presidency of CIAM, the Composers' World Congress.
Dan LUNDBERG
Dan Lundberg, b. 1959, is Director of the Centre for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research and a professor at the University of Gävle. In addition to these positions, Lundberg teaches folk-music and ethnomusicology. Dan Lundberg is a senior lecturer in musicology at the University of Stockholm. In 1994 he defended his thesis on modal improvisation in Turkish folk- and popular music. He’s an active member of the international ethnomusicology scientist society, mainly through his memberships of the International Council of Traditional Music (ICTM) and the co-ordinating committee of the ESEM – European Seminar in Ethnomusicology. Since the 70s, Dan Lundberg has been an active musician in a number of ensembles on the Swedish world-music circuit, specializing on Eastern European folk-music. Lundberg’s main musical focus has been on his band the Orient Express. Lundberg’s key publications include the 1996 paper Folkmusik i Sverige (Folk-music in Sweden), Musik, medier, mångkultur (Music, media, mass culture) from 2000 and Musiketnologi – en introduction (Ethnomusicology – an introduction) published in 2002.
Edward BLAKEMAN
Edward Blakeman is Editor of Live Music (opera and orchestras) at BBC Radio 3 in London and Executive Producer of the BBC Proms. He was a freelance musician, writer and broadcaster before he joined the BBC in 1989. Over the years he has worked across the entire range of broadcasting output for Radio 3, from magazine, documentary and sequence programmes, to chamber music recitals, orchestral and opera relays, and special events.
He has been involved in the BBC Proms since 1996, with overall responsibility for co-ordinating the production and presentation of the concert broadcasts from the Royal Albert Hall, along with the intervals, various other Proms-related programmes, and liaison with BBC Television. He also plans and produces a complementary series of Proms Chamber Music recitals each season at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
At present he is also working on a broadcast festival for Autumn 2004 - Listen Up! - in partnership with the Association of British Orchestras, and two projects related to contemporary music and composer residencies with British orchestras, in association with the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Continuing his interests as a musician and writer, he has just completed a biography of the 19th century French flute player and conductor, Paul Taffanel, for publication next year by Oxford University Press.
Reiner MORITZ
Reiner Moritz has established himself as a leading international co-producer of music and arts programmes, a reputation built on credits including David Attenborough's Life on Earth, Margot Fonteyn's The Magic of Dance, the epic chronicle of pop music All You Need is Love, and the British Academy of Film and Television Award-winning series Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the Twentieth Century, a.o.
Moritz's company, Poorhouse International, offers the finest and most comprehensive selection of music and arts programming for television and video worldwide. The company's constant growth is made possible by its close association with many international broadcasters and leading independent production companies. It remains a distinguishing feature of Reiner Moritz's activities that he not only works with established stars and creative practitioners but also tracks down less widely-known and emerging talents, those setting new trends today who promise to be the major names of the future. Moritz has received a great number of international awards for his productions and his contributions to arts.
Rob YOUNG
Since 1993, Rob Young has played a key role in the development of the internationally respected British music magazine The Wire. A director and former Editor of the magazine, since early 2004 he has taken up a Contributing Editor position in order to concentrate on a variety of writing, curatorial and research projects. He has contributed to a wide range of publications including The Guardian, Frieze, Gramophone, and the Independent On Sunday. In 2002 he edited the acclaimed book Undercurrents: The Hidden Wiring Of Modern Music (Continuum). He has a special interest in Scandinavian music and arts: he contributed an essay to the recent book on Rune Grammofon, Money Will Ruin Everything, edited by Kim Hiorthøy, and with Wire colleague Anne Hilde Neset he is curating the sound art element of the Lofoten International Art Festival 2004. He lives in London.
Richard KESSLER
Richard Kessler is the executive director of the American Music Center, the national service and information center for new American music, created in 1939 by Aaron Copland. Since joining the AMC in 1997, Kessler has led an ambitious expansion of the AMC's activities, including the creation of new programs such as the award-winning web magazine NewMusicbox.org, a nationwide career development program for composers and performers, , the establishment of the American Music Center Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the creation of a first-ever endowment, and an increase in AMC grant making programs to more than $7 million over the last three years.
Prior to becoming director of the AMC, Kessler was vice president of the arts educational consulting firm Artsvision, where he worked in virtually all aspects of arts and education, including artist training, curriculum development, teacher professional development, assessment, and more. During his years at Artsvision, Kessler helped to create and implement many of North America's arts and education programs for school communities, arts organizations, and foundations, including the Center for Arts Education (New York), and education programs for the Cleveland Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Acting Company, Ballet Chicago, and Gibbes Museum of Art. Before joining Artsvision, Kessler was a Naumburg-award-winning chamber musician, where he commissioned, recorded and premiered works by Arvo Part, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Elliot Goldenthal, Joe Schwantner, Aaron Kernis, Ned Rorem, Richard Danielpour, and many others.
In demand as a keynote speaker, conference panelist, and workshop facilitator, Kessler has worked with organizations such as the American Symphony Orchestra League, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Bank Street College of Education, Cal Performances, Jeunesse Musicale, Midem, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and others. Kessler is on the board of the International Association of Music Information Centers and the American Composers Orchestra. A native of Brooklyn, Kessler was a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music for five years and holds two degrees from the Juilliard School.
Bendik HOFSETH
Bendik Hofseth, b. 1962, Norwegian composer and musician. He has 7 CD's released with his own music, a personal blend of genres and styles. Many commissioned pieces for classical performers, compositions for film, theatre, ballet and TV. Hofseth has performed extensively around the world. He has collaborated with Steps Ahead, John McLaughlin, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ray Phiri, Rickie Lee Jones, amongst others. He runs his own festival "ESSENS" in Norway.
Currently Hofseth is Chairman of NOPA (Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists), Phonofile and ByLarm (In the City, Norway). He is also on the board of the Norwegian Performing Rights Society (TONO), The Nordic Copyright Bureau (NcB), and Artspages. Hofseth chairs as Professor of Music at The Conservatory of music at the Agder University College.
Peter RANTASA
Executive Director of mica - music information center austria (since 1999), Secretary of the board of IAMIC - International Association of Music Information Centers, Board member of EMO - European Music Office, Board member of the IMC - International Music Council, Lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Management at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Peter Rantasa designed and currently coordinates the EU funded project "European Music Navigator" for a consortium of 8 IAMIC - International Association of Music Information Centers members and coordinates the working group "Music Libraries" in the IST project Project "The Interactive Music Network (MUSICNETWORK)". Peter Rantasa regularly participates in national and international conferences (MIDEM, Alpbacher Technologiegespräche, ISCM World Music Days etc.) as a speaker and a moderator (topics: music on internet, cultural policy and economics, copyright, aesthetic issues), he equally takes part in panel discussions.
Education in telecommunications, electronics and bio-medics at the TGM, Vienna and electro-acoustics and experimental music at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
After several years as carer for handicapped people Rantasa worked as head of department for cultural mediation and publications at the Kulturges.m.b.H SPOT in Salzburg, founded a community of interest of mediators for museums and exhibitions in Austria, worked as Co-Director of Radio ID GmbH (share in Radio Energy, Vienna) and managed projects in the field of telecommunications. He founded and curated a number of music festivals in Austria (phonotaktik, Vienna) and is the founder of the platform for electronic culture "rhiz" in Vienna. His works as composer are presented in international Museums and Festivals. His most recent work received the award "intermedium 2" Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Kate AUGESTAD
Augestad is Assistent Professor of Media Studies at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies at the University of Bergen. She majored with a thesis on a female popular music singer, the Norwegian star and national icon, Sissel Kyrkjebø. The thesis is an analysis of the breakthrough and huge success of this performer in Norway.
Augestad has also studied music and singing, and has been a performer in different rock and new wave bands. She worked for a while as an actor and singer at the major theatre in Bergen, Den Nationale Scene. Currently, she is an alto in a choir, Collegium Musicum, performing classical music, where she also sits on the board.
Academically, Augestad is currently working on a doctoral thesis on the female singing voice of popular music.
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