Ultima 2026 And then the weather // Cikada & IEMA

And then the weather Kulturkirken Jakob 18 September 2026 Light winds from the northwest, occasional aurora, probability of Mars dust: 40%. What the forecast cannot tell you is what any of this will feel like from the inside. Tonight's conditions: Cikada, one of Norway's defining contemporary music ensembles, and the emerging musicians of IEMA share an evening where earthly gestures and planetary signals enter the same listening system. Beneath the Arctic sky, as the northern lights spread across the darkness, Kaija Saariaho found the first ideas for Lichtbogen. The connection between the aurora and the piece remains elusive, but listeners might recognise it in shimmering textures and harmonies that seem to emerge from within the sound itself. Hanna Hartman's Advanced Weather Information Processing System brings the forecast down to matter. We hear cutlery against terracotta, Velcro and polystyrene, sandpaper, and a bass drum played with a rubber ball. From these materials emerge rain, wind, waves, and chaotic accumulation---like a machine trying to read the weather from inside the weather itself. The perspective keeps widening. Malin Bång begins with the body: eighteen hands moving as one collective organism. Øyvind Torvund lets a string quartet dream of synthesizers, mechanical birdsong, and sounds they were never built to make. Olivia Køppe reaches further still, placing archival voices around the audience so that a century of human fascination with Mars arrives as signals from very far away. Program Malin Bång the flock of fleeting hands, for ensemble (world premiere) Hanna Hartman Advanced Weather Information Processing System, for ensemble (world premiere of ensemble version, co-commissioned by Ultima and SWR) Break Olivia Køppe Blues for a Red Planet, for ensemble, tape, and electronics (world premiere, commissioned by Ultima) Øyvind Torvund Five Pieces for String Quartet (2024, world premiere) Kaija Saariaho Lichtbogen, for ensemble and electronics (1986) Credits International Ensemble Modern Academy Ingvild Ness -- flute Luciano Maria Moricca -- oboe Neus Molero Beneito -- clarinet Dana Barak -- bass clarinet (guest) Johanna Mayr -- bassoon Jinhyoung Kim -- trumpet (guest) Dorian Kraft -- tuba (guest) Sunniva Rødland -- harp (guest) Li-Ting Tai -- piano Yué Zou -- piano Cheuk Hin Keith Ng -- percussion Suzune Masumoto -- violin Paul Rodríguez Flys -- violin Ynyr Pritchard -- viola Mari Nagahara -- cello Håkon Thelin -- double bass (guest) Mariacostanza D'Agostino -- conductor Delia Ramos Rodríguez -- conductor Cikada Ensemble Anne Karine Hauge -- flute Rolf Borch -- clarinet Kenneth Karlsson -- piano Bjørn Rabben -- percussion Karin Hellqvist -- violin Magnus Boye Hansen -- violin Bendik Foss -- viola Inga Byrkjeland -- cello Håkon Thelin -- double bass Christian Eggen -- conductor Sunniva Rødland -- harp Light Design Evelina Dembacke Sound Design Federico Ambruosi (IEMA) -- live electronics and sound design Produced by Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival International Ensemble Modern Academy Cikada Ensemble Supported by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Goethe-Institut Nordic Culture Fund City of Oslo The Norwegian Composers' Fund The European Union as part of the ULYSSES Platform In collaboration with HfMDK Frankfurt