DA er NÅ (Then is Now) is a project that brings together students and teachers from various musical backgrounds including classical performing, jazz performing, FRIKA and composition. The aim of this collaboration is to re-compose, improvise, and interpret classical works with the help of modern compositional and improvisational strategies.
Morten Qvenild and Henrik Hellstenius have already worked on this problem through a project for the Risør Chamber Music Festival in 2022, where they collaborated with singer Solveig Slettahjell and ensemble Ernst.
The project's primary focus is to encourage reflection on how we can use compositional and improvisational strategies to reinterpret these classical works in contemporary times. The aim is to subject the pieces to a critical compositional gaze, while also further developing their musical qualities, and elevate them into another format that allows us to appreciate the music's central ideas in a new form.