Jon Mostad
Encyclopedia
Jon Mostad is a composer from Fredrikstad, Norway. He received the Norwegian state three year scholarship for artists from 1982 until 1984.

Musical style

In his early compositions Mostad is moving from a linear-expressionist style to a more timbre-oriented line of thinking where both modernist and romantic music are inspiring his work. From around 1975 the timbre/harmonic aspect of his music becomes more related to the harmonic series. During the 80s and 90s he combines this with other types of modal and free compositional techniques, sometimes utilising modal techniques as well as more overtone-oriented harmonic spectra within the same composition.

At the same time he has also been experimenting with untraditional structuring of his material, both in works of one movement and in cyclical works. Many of Mostad's instrumental works as well as vocal music, are inspired by Judæo-Christian texts which often influence the structuring of the music. For instance in "And the light shines in darkness" a massive dark sounding layer with lots of rhythmical unrest gradually gets introduced to a lighter sounding chord with notes from the harmonic series.

Mostad has written chamber music, solo pieces for piano, guitar, organ and utilised electronics, both pre-recorded and live with interaction with live musicians, but his main focus has been orchestral and vocal music. His longest composition is the work "Were you there, when they crucified my Lord?" for choir, recitation, solo voices and orchestra.

Performances

The music of Jon Mostad has been played by leading orchestras in Norway (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim...) as well as performed at Bergen International Festival
Bergen International Festival
Bergen International Festival is an annual international music and cultural festival in Bergen, Norway. The festival is the largest in the Nordic countries in its genre and has a large number of activities in music, dance, literature, visual arts, folklore etc...

, the Elverum Festival, Music Factory in Bergen and Dartington International Summer School in Totnes, England among other festivals. In 2010 he was featured composer of the Vinteriss festival in Østfold
Østfold
is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...

 (a region in Norway). He has been represented at Nordic Music Days
Nordic Music Days
Nordic Music Days is the oldest ongoing collaboration among the Nordic countries: a festival for new Nordic music that was founded in 1888 and had its origins in existing musical collaboration. It is one of the oldest and best respected festivals for contemporary classical music in the world...

 and has been played on radio in the Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

, former Jugoslavia and England. His "2 psalms" for choir has been sung numerous times in Japan, England and Norway.

Mostad's music has also been performed by local amateur ensembles. Music ranging from small chamber pieces to the multimedia show Terje Vigen
Terje Vigen
Terje Vigen is a poem written by Henrik Ibsen, published in 1862. Much of the story and setting is from the area around the town of Grimstad in southern Norway where Ibsen lived for a few years in his youth...

 based on texts by Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

 and theatrical music for Ibsen's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

 were written for local ensembles in Fredrikstad
Fredrikstad
is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad....

.

Mostad has also got comissions from Ny Musikk, NRK radio and TV, Ungdomssymfonikerne, Det Norske Blåseensemble, Amsterdams Gitaartrio and Oslo Sinfonietta as well as from local ensembles in Fredrikstad.

Mostad plays the piano and have occasionally substituted as organist in local churches, but he is seldom involved in performing his own music. He did however participate in November 2010 as player of the live electronics part at the premiere of his piece "Ikke helt solo" ("not quite solo") for cello and quadrophonic live electronics. The cello part was performed by Liv Frengstad.

Recordings

The music of Jon Mostad has been recorded by The norwegian Soloist's choir, The Oslo Philharmonic, Øystein Birkeland and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...

. His orchestral works "House", "The light shines in darkness" and "Concerto for cello and orchestra" were chosen by a jury of the Norwegian society of composers
Norwegian Society of Composers
The Norwegian Society of Composers was founded in 1917. The Society’s main objectives are to promote its members’ music and secure their rights....

 to be recorded on the Aurora label, resulting in the CD "The light shines in darkness" with Oslo Philharmonic, cellist Øystein Birkeland and conductor Michel Swierczewski.

Education

Theological candidate 1965. Music and pedagogy 1969. Diploma in composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music
Norwegian Academy of Music
The Norwegian Academy of Music is a music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the country's highest level of music education. As a university college, it offers both undergraduate and postgraduate...

 (ending in 1974). Main teacher: Finn Mortensen
Finn Mortensen
Finn Mortensen was a Norwegiancomposer, critic and educator. Finn Einar Mortensen was born in Oslo. His parents were publisher Ernst Gustav Mortensen and Anna Marie Damnæs . Mortensen grew up in a publishing environment and it was at first expected that he would go into his father's...

. An important inspiration during his studies were the private seminars in sonology and on Mahler by Olav Anton Thommessen
Olav Anton Thommessen
Olav Anton Thommessen is a Norwegian composer. He trained in the United States earning degrees from Westminster Choir College and Indiana University. He is currently professor of composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he has taught since 1972. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in...

. Shorter courses in studio work at NSEM, Høvikodden (1975/76), EMS Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 (1983).

Other activities

In addition to composing, Jon Mostad was teaching arrangement and composition, music and religion at high schools in Fredrikstad
Fredrikstad
is a city and municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad....

 and Moss
Moss
Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

 (years 10-12 or 11-13 in the Norwegian school system) until he retired in 2006. Among his many students were film director Harald Zwart
Harald Zwart
Harald Zwart is a Norwegian film director.Although born in the Netherlands, Zwart was raised in Fredrikstad in Norway. As early as age eight, he started making short films. He attended the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam where he received great acclaim for his student film Gabriel's Surprise...

 and composer Frank Tveor Nordensten.

He has also been active in organisations such as Ny Musikk Østfold, the regional branch of an organisation promoting contemporary music, Norwegian society of composers
Norwegian Society of Composers
The Norwegian Society of Composers was founded in 1917. The Society’s main objectives are to promote its members’ music and secure their rights....

 and TONO
TONO
TONO is a Norwegian corporation that administers copyrights for music in Norway.It is owned and governed by its members; composers, music publishers and text-writers...

.

Mostad is a devout Lutheran and has done volunteer work in christian organisations such as being a Sunday school teacher, visiting prisoners, helping find funding and equipment for a hospital in Nigeria and delivering humanitarian aid to a village in Russia shortly after the fall of the Soviet bloc.

External links

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