Christina Dahl, Simon Toldam, Peter Bruun
Biography Christina Dahl, Simon Toldam, Peter Bruun
Christina Dahl
To me music is love. Love is unconditional. I can choose to receive the music and let it flow through me like a wave of warm energy. I can express myself freely.
I can let myself be caught, taken by the music. I can consciously and unconsciously find an embrace of all my feelings in the music – joy, anger, sorrow, longing, fear and so much more.
My love for music began in my childhood.
At the local music school it was possible for me to share my joy of music with other children. It was through Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto that I for the first time experienced The Musical Moment where everything comes together – a sense of eternity that was always there but now for the first time resonated within me and made sense in a deeply profound way.
Later in life I was lucky to experience that moment again. It was during a workshop with the American group Quest with among others Dave Liebman. It was a huge revelation for me. Through their music they opened the door to en endless room with all the colors of the world. They ignited a spark within me to follow my longings and love for music,
During my musicology studies at the University of Copenhagen and at the Conservatory of Rythmic Music I began to compose music for smaller and larger ensembles. During the 90ties I started composing for my own jazz quintet. I had my debut concert at the Jazzhouse Montmartre in the beginning of the 90ties.
It was during my studies that I made my first aquintence with the instrumentation of the classical music when I at the request of Erik Moseholm composed a work for the Danish Radio Concert Orchestra in 1994 where I was the soloist. I later had the opportunity to compose for the Athelas Ensemble, The Symphony Orchestra of Aalborg, big bands and various small ensembles and orchestras.
I participated in the workshop “The Third Way” with various classical composers as inspirators (Per Nørgaard, Hans Abrahamsen, Karsten Fundal among others) and I finished my two year studies of composition at the Conservatory of Rythmic Music where Bob Brookmeyer og Svend Hvidtfeldt Nielsen were my main teachers.
From 2003 to 2010 I have been composing and have released 2 cds as a leader with my 8-piece orchestra, Heartbeats. A big part of the music was composed and produced at the Kæv Studio.
During the years I also have composed music for my duo with Carsten Dahl. We have released two cds: ”Lys på himlen” and ”Det gyldne Landskab”. Furthermore I have composed for the Dahl/Lundgaard/Riel/Dahl and Dahl/Danielsson/Mazur/Dahl quartets.
In the last five years I have been touring and composing with my trio which during the first few years consisted of myself, Jesper Lundgaard (b) og Morten Lund (dr). In 2010 we released our first cd on Storyville Records to critical acclaim.
My trio now consists of Jesper Lundgaard (b) and Espen Laub von Lillienskjold (dr). Lately Niclas Knudsen (g) has been joining us and has been adding new colors and dimensions to the music.
I am contantly searching for a greater freedom of expression and new challenges as a composer. It is important to me that the music I compose is creating a frame of freedom. My vision is to challenge and develop new expressions in my music as well as to create new musical sounds.
I’m searching for an expression that at he same time reflects and shows the personalities of the musicians plying it. I compose especially for the personalities of the musicians who I know will be playing my music.
My music is through-composed to start with but leaves room for interpretation. The harmonic freedom offers us an incredible opportunity to develop thematic structures while at the same time giving each voice a strong independant personal character while still ending in a common musical expression.
