I’m pleased to share that composer Anna Berg has joined JJMM for worldwide representation.
With regular performances at festivals such as Ultima, Bergen International Festival, Interpuls, Baltic Sea Festival, the Arctic Chamber Music Festival, and the International Rostrum of Composers, she has collaborated with celebrated artists and ensembles including Pekka Kuusisto, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Sinfonietta, The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Seattle’s Sound Ensemble, and many more.
Berg is a Norwegian Vietnamese composer and often incorporates ideas from Vietnam into her music. Her works Returnal for string orchestra, Earthward, Ever Circling for string trio, and Twirling, Revolving (2023) for mixed ensemble, form an instrumental triptych taking inspiration from profound Vietnamese ritual funeral music whereby diverse musical expressions guide the soul towards reincarnation.
Her works – spanning compositions for string ensembles, sinfonietta, orchestra, and choir – can now be explored on the JJMM website, with recent premieres including:
• The Grammar of Ornament, for violin and large ensemble, premiered at Ultima Festival by Guro Kleven Hagen and Oslo Sinfonietta, conducted by Christian Eggen
• Different Truths, for chamber ensemble, premiered by ensemble TRAKTOR in Hamar
• Xymene II, for flute, harp and viola, premiered by Ensemble Le Bestiaire, Paris
Adept at writing for both concert hall and screen, Berg composed the music for the film ‘DRØMMER’ (‘DREAMS’) by renowned director Dag Johan Haugerud. She is one of six music creators featured in the music documentary How Music Plays Us (2024) by Mats Andersen and one of ten Norwegian composers in the book Voices in Contemporary Music (‘Stemmer i samtidsmusikken’) by Bodil Maroni Jensen.
I look forward to working with Anna on some exciting future projects and being able to widely share her music!
