Biography
Sigurd Hole is a Norwegian composer and musician (double bass). His work examines the dialogue between composition and improvisation in a musical landscape where field recordings and other sounds may occur as natural parts of the music. The result is a unique musical world that more and more people are turning their ears towards both at home and abroad. His music recently found its way to Carnegie Hall, and he has received strong reviews both for his solo and ensemble albums in media such as the The New York Times, DownBeat and BBC3. In 2022 his latest album “Roraima” was awarded the prestigious German Record Critics' Award (Preis der deutschen Shallplattenkritik).
Sigurd grew up in a small village called Åkre in Rendalen, Norway. Music has always been an important part of his life. At the age of six he startet playing the violin, and then moved on to the double bass at the age of 13.
After finishing his masters degree in jazz/improvised music and composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo in 2008, he has been a vital part of the Norwegian music scene both in jazz ensembles like Tord Gustavsen trio, Jon Eberson Group and Eple Trio, and through his work related to Norwegian folk music with musicians like Karl Seglem and Eli Storbekken. As a composer he has written music for a wide variety of ensembles ranging from small chamber groups to large orchestras such as the The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK).
After extensive many album releases and touring world-wide for many years, Sigurd decided to slow things down a bit and return to the core of his interest in music: exploring the rich timbral spectrum of the double bass - from high pitched harmonics to deep, rumbling strings.
His double bass explorations resulted in the solo bass album Elvesang (2018), recorded in an old wooden church in Rendalen. The album received world-wide critical acclaim in a wide range of media, far beyond expectations for a solo album featuring the largest and most a-typical solo instrument of the string family. 2018 also saw the release of his first trio album, Encounters, with Jarle Vespestad and Håkon Aase.
In 2020 came the sequel to Elvesang, Lys/Mørke. Lys/Mørke is solo double bass double-album close to 80 minutes long recorded outdoors on the arctic islands of Fleinvær in Northern Norway. The album was premiered in Carnegie Hall in New York, and was listed on several Best of 2020-lists like DownBeat´s “Top Rated albums of 2020” alongside recordings by Chick Corea, Keith Jarret and others.
In February 2022 Sigurd released his most recent album Roraima. Roraima was commissioned by Oslo World for the festival in 2020, and reflects themes such as solidarity and ecological vulnerability. The work draws inspiration from the creation myth of the Yanomami people and the sound of the Amazon rainforest, and also includes field recordings of the Amazon biophony by soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and sound artist Stephen Vitiello. The ensemble features Trygve Seim, Frode Haltli, Helga Myhr, Tanja Orning, Håkon Aase and Per Oddvar Johansen.
“In a time when the noise of humanity threatens to overwhelm and destroy the very habitat in which they live, examining every aspect of human interaction with the external world seems to be of grave importance. At the core of my work both as musician and composer is an ambitious and ever-present curiosity towards sound and a deep fascination for the conscious act of listening. This manifests itself in an explorative attitude towards sound as such, examining different ways of experiencing music and how we as humans interact with music and other sounds in a wider sense.”
- Sigurd Hole, March 2023