Take the pulse with Stian Carstensen and KIS

The unreserved and brilliant Stian Carstensen comes to us these  days and is guaranteed to take our breath away. In close interaction with  classical musicians in the center, we can expect an evening completely outside the  ordinary. Musical games and phenomenal musicianship in many  genres await those who are quick and secure a ticket this evening.

Stian has been nominated for the Nordic Council's Music Prize this year. Here is what they write about him as motivation for the nomination:

"Multi-instrumentalist  Stian Carstensen has been a central performer in jazz and  folk music for 30 years and is known for his outstanding work as composer and communicator. Already before his teenage years he was a  sensational performer on the accordion, and since then he has expanded to  other guitar, banjo, pedal steel guitar, Bulgarian flute and bagpipes.

Carstensen's  infectious musicality is equally convincingly expressed whether it is  solo playing, with bands such as Farmers Market, Music for a While or  Gamgrass, as a soloist with symphony orchestras or as a mediator in  TV/radio productions. He moves between genres, between   instruments, between percussionists, art music, children's songs, classical   tradition and folk tunes in "endangered time signatures". He is a true virtuoso, and in his playing there are no boundaries, or opposition, between the humorous and the deeply serious.

Carstensen is a highly respected and popular speller, a traveler in music, both local and universal in his musical expression.