Competition 2022

Aria Borealis Bodø is a competition for musicians among musicians, which is why we are designing the competition in a unique way. Instead of inviting candidates to Bodø just to be eliminated one by one until one final winner is announced, we will declare several winners already after the initial round of video submissions. This will create a more relaxed and constructive atmosphere for exploring and performing music together with the musicians from four prominent Nordic Baroque orchestras – Concerto Copenhagen (CoCo) from Denmark, the Finnish Baroque orchestra (FiBO), Barokkanerne from Norway, and Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble from Sweden.

Within this unique collaborative setting, the contestants will also receive coaching from the members of the jury, which includes some of leading capacities on the Early Music scene: soprano Dame Emma Kirkby, soprano Tuuli Lindeberg, conductor/harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen, stage director Stefan Herheim, and tenor Anders J. Dahlin.

The first live round of the competition consists of rehearsals and a concert with a chamber ensemble assembled from the Nordic Baroque Scene. Here, as throughout the competition, contestants will collaborate and take guidance from members of the four orchestras and receive coaching from the jurors. Additionally, each contestant will prepare and perform a folk song from their homeland. The result will be performed over the course of two concerts in Stormen Concert Hall, Monday, June 27.

In the second round, contestants will compete in teams and act together in short scenes from a Baroque opera, oratorio or cantata with full orchestra and stage direction by Victoria Bomann-Larsen. Their second-round competition performance will take place in Stormen Concert Hall Saturday, July 2. 

In both rounds, audience members will be able to vote for their favorite performance online. The concerts will also be streamed, but for the audience in Bodø all rehearsals, workshops, and concerts are open to the public, in a town that’s sure to be buzzing and brimming with Baroque music for over a week.