Dear audience!
Oslo World is happening for the 29th time this year and once again we will fill the autumn evenings, and many of Oslo's best stages, with music, conversations and cultural expressions from all over the world.
This year's festival theme is movement. Music needs movement. Our scene here at home depends on impulses from the outside world - and the artists who live here need a world to reach for. We are incredibly grateful to be able to create a festival in a city of culture that is constantly developing, where wonderful colleagues work all through the year on small and large stages to create unity, ecstasy and inspiration.
Music inspires us and sets the tone for political movements. The meeting point between music and activism is a place we aim for again and again - this year is no exception. We want to look at the way culture affects, and allows itself to be affected by, political developments and the current global turmoil. Art flourishes in moments of crisis and it shows us how vitally important it is.
Music is unifying. We want to emphasize how culture is a space of its own, where individuals, different minorities and those who think differently try to find ways to express themselves freely. You will be able to hear many of these artists during this year's festival.
Music creates belonging. As part of this year's theme, Oslo World has established the Movement network, a festival collaboration with organizers in Bergen, Tromsø, Skien and Molde, to present music from all over the world in Norway. The network will collaborate to offer music experiences from different parts of the world around week 44 each year. We see it as a long-term move to ensure that the Norwegian concert culture remains international, even in years of setbacks.
Music moves us. Already last year, Oslo World, as one of the first festivals in the country, was able to put away the fixed seating instructions and let people move. It was amazing! 2022 will be a year where we really want to focus on dancing and dense musical experiences. We will let ourselves be moved, because if there is one thing we can guarantee during Oslo World, it is that we will be touched by the music we love, by the activists we meet, by the world moving a little closer to us, for better or for worse, but mostly good.
I look forward to seeing you around!
