– A diverse institution, educating for an even more diverse workforce

Welcome to the formal conclusion of the 2024–2025 academic year at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

And a big thank you to Lukas, Sandra, Astrid, Amund, and Johanne for opening the programme with a fanfare on the lur. The piece is titled PRELURIUM, composed by Wolfgang Plagge and originally written for the "Sound of the Academy" festival in 2020.

Many of us remember that festival – which was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. During the same period, events like this one were also not held.

When we resumed after the pandemic—and I was new as principal—we initially questioned how important a ceremony like this was for the students. Many finish their exams long before June 20th and leave the city, so not everyone can be present.

A Ritual of Transition

But we quickly realised that rituals like this are important to many – graduating students with their families, other students, and the Academy's staff. Coming together to celebrate some of what we have achieved, both individually and collectively, over the past year, has value. It is appreciated, and those of us here represent many more.

Such transitions can be experienced in different ways. Maybe it feels wonderful to be finished, or maybe it’s intimidating. Perhaps you have a clear idea of what you want to do next, but less clarity about what you will or can do, especially when you must pay rent and other essential expenses.

Different paths into the music profession

The paths into the music profession can vary greatly.

For my part, I was recently reminded of some of my first steps after leaving the Norwegian Academy of Music when I joined in celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir. At the same time, we bid farewell to Grete Pedersen, who has been the choir’s conductor and artistic director for 35 years. Grete, who also works here at NMH, is moving to Yale in the United States next year.

It was a grand celebration, held at the Bergen International Festival and on several stages in Oslo. I attended the concert at the University Aula in Oslo, framed by Edvard Munch’s paintings. I will return to that space shortly, but first:

When I completed what was then called the "main subject" – a little before the Soloists’ Choir turned 50 – the choir became a key employer for me during my early years as a freelancer and part-time worker. It marked the start of an exciting career in music, which eventually led me to a doctoral degree and, after yet another journey outside these walls, a position as principal here at NMH.

Not quite «A4»

In the years following my studies, I was part of many wonderful and exciting musical projects. It was both rewarding and thrilling. At the same time, it was a life where I often felt vulnerability, performance pressure, and competition – and not everything was easy.

When are you chosen, and when are you not? Perhaps more accurately, when does someone else get the assignment or the job you dream of, wish for, or maybe even feel you deserve?

In other words, there is a need for you out there, and you can even expect to get paid for what you do. Isn’t that a good starting point to take with you?

The same graduate survey also shows that students challenge us to improve at preparing them for working life in ways beyond learning to play and sing as well as possible, to develop their artistic expression. There is a need for knowledge about how to survive in the "industry" – whatever that may entail.

We are continuously working on that challenge and will keep doing so in the future.

At the same time, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the need to become even more "industry-oriented." That is partly because we are a diverse institution educating for an even more diverse workforce.

That is how it should be.

A year of experiences and impressions

When I reflect on some of my encounters with the students at NMH over the past year, I am not only struck by how inspired, impressed, and moved I almost always am when meeting and listening to you – and sometimes also reflective. The range of what you are engaged in is also so impressive. Here are a few examples:

I have attended:

• A concert in the cafeteria with students from the continuing education programme on cultural diversity in music education
• A concert in Store Studio where two of our students were the soloists and conductor with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra
• The Second Stage at the Opera House in Bjørvika, where our students performed Eugene Onegin with students from the Opera Academy
• The Victoria Jazz Club, where creative improvising musicians, songwriters, and singers performed their own works and led both small and large bands
• At NMH, where I was served Opera Stew here in Lindeman Hall

I have been to:

• South Africa, where I experienced our pedagogy students making music with children from the poor neighbourhoods of Johannesburg, and to Ål, where others gave a concert at a nursing home

I have been in our classrooms:

• To speak with all first-year bachelor’s students about NMH’s strategy and our place in society
• To meet master’s students in music theory and share my experiences as a journalist and critic
• At the “Improvisation Contest” with the folk music students, where I got – or had to – join the fun myself, after some gentle persuasion, alongside a fiddler I had never met before
• Seeing and hearing how much students can learn after an intensive week themed around early music, and how much fun it seems they’ve had

And I’ve had the honour of carrying the banner for Norway’s best marching band in the Constitution Day parade here in Oslo, and this time last year, for NMH in the Pride parade.

And much, much more.

Regardless, experiences like these probably motivate me the most in my job, and I believe I can say the same on behalf of everyone who works here, both the teachers and those in the administration.

We are also part of a larger world, which we connect with through, among other things, the European University Alliance we are part of, IN.TUNE. There is much in common between music education institutions in Oslo, The Hague, Barcelona, Vienna, Helsinki, Bucharest, Paris, and Belgrade.

However, in Belgrade, students have been protesting and blocking their own institutions since November in opposition to what they claim is a corrupt and authoritarian regime in Serbia. Through the alliance, these are also "our" students, reminding us that a turbulent world can quickly come close.

I honestly don't have the energy to dwell too much on the state of the world and all the things we could worry about here. Today is a time to celebrate!

But I would like to, just at the very end, share one reflection, also from the University Aula. Three days after the concert with the Soloists’ Choir, I attended a speech by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre titled "Norway in a Turbulent World."

There, we were also reminded of the room's history and how Munch's paintings were removed during World War II. In place of the sun, a swastika was hung at the front, and students and staff from the university were gathered in the Aula in 1943 and later deported, some killed.

In these surroundings, the Prime Minister shared many wise thoughts – including something along the lines of this:

Building military preparedness is expensive, but actually quite simple. However, building preparedness in a society's people is difficult.

That is where higher education comes in – with knowledge preparedness – and, I would add: with art preparedness, with creative preparedness.

We who work with music have tools to help us, and everyone else, cope with life's changes and transitions. Music and art can comfort and unite us, both as individuals, within close circles, and as a society. Art can offer an escape from the everyday and be a refuge from noise and unrest. It can also serve as an expression in the conversations of the world and the society around us.

Such expressions should be free, like other forms of expression, in a democratic society.

I believe this is something we must continue to articulate, share with our politicians, and reflect on together in the years to come.

An active and engaged student council

The Academy of Music must educate students who participate in society – primarily through music, but also through other forms of communication, connected to various roles.

This is one of the reasons – and of course also to address more minor but equally important matters – that I am pleased we have an active and engaged student council at the Academy of Music. They have announced their intention to prioritise international work, both at home and abroad, on the agenda for the next academic year.

I will soon hand the floor over to this year’s SUT leader, Lucie Lou Camps.

But before that, we will hear an improvised electronic piece by composition student Thorvald Bugge Helle, directed from the back of the hall.