Norway has spawned quite a plethora of distinctive musicians that have made it their enterprise to merge musical traditions, often from their respective homesteads, with contemporary expressions, world music and improvisational jazz. Tenor-saxophonist and goat horn player Karl Seglem looms prominently among these and he is unquestionably one of the great innovators and visionaries of Norwegian music; reinvigorating both Norwegian traditional genres and jazz with his unwavering will to fuse expressions, pursue crossover ventures and embrace new instruments, sounds and perspectives.Seglem has played an important role on the Norwegian jazz scene. His CD-production counts 29 albums (2014). Already at an early stage in his career he became interested in more diverse and genre crossing perspectives of music. Especially he has been deeply involved with Norwegian folk music and has explored it as a basis for improvisation and composition. For Seglem is much more than an instrumentalist, he has worked widely and diversely as a composer, - developing new contemporary forms on the basis of jazz, folk music and more eclectic inspirations, and has also been instrumental to the growth of cross-over expressions and projects as a producer and record label manager (NORCD). International renown has grown steadily and not least his recent trilogy of solo releases Femstein, Urbs and Ossicles have captivated international critics and audiences. On these records the use of goat horns and other traditional instruments - notably the Hardanger fiddle- is masterly and excitingly blended with a plethora of modern and eclectic elements; electronic loops, jazz improvisation, world music traits and rock characteristics. Seglem often returns to the notion of the acoustic heart of his music, which is the grounded and timeless leitmotif.

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1961, the pianist became a permanent band member of Andreas Vollenweider & Friends at the age of 23. He toured with the band through Europe, Australia, Japan and the USA from 1984 to 1989. Around the same time he decided to drop out of law school; he began to work on his own projects, with which he has already produced and published 16 CDs internationally.
After his earlier musical interests inspired him to create projects in world music, nujazz, fusion and even to compose a “classical” concerto for piano, two percussionists and string orchestra (world premiere in 1998), he turned intensively to jazz piano music and composition in the last 15 years.
He has become well known internationally over the last few years, in particular for his own compositional style through which he has created a contemporary type of jazz by using a compositional technique from the Middle Ages (isorhythm) and his music oscillates between intensive grooves and tonal color painting in a fascinating manner. For years, he fostered this compositional style, mostly in his Inner Language Trio, which manages the balancing act between precise conceptual work and unleashed improvisation with such aplomb as few other formations in the current jazz scene.
Stiefel’s extraordinary compositions as well as his special way of playing the piano have opened the doors to interesting new projects such as a duo performance with the Japanese dancer Hideto Heshiki, a duo with the vocalist Lisette Spinnler, the foundation of the septet Christoph Stiefel’s Isorhythm Orchestra along with several of the best Swiss and German jazz musicians as well as the new band, the Karl Seglem & Christoph Stiefel Group.
Since 2000, Christoph Stiefel has been an instructor for piano and keyboards in the Jazz Department at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2012, he received a cultural award – a one-year working grant – from the City of Zurich, called “Werkjahr Jazz.”

Kåre Opheim was born in Voss, Norway, in 1975. In the past years he has worked with several Norwegian artists and musicians such as Odd Nordstoga, Stein Torleif Bjella and Ole Paus. He received two Norwegian grammys with the band Real Ones and the Vossa Jazz Prize in 2003. Current collaborations include Real Ones, Karl Seglem, Sigrid Moldestad and Seglem/Stiefel Waves.

Singer, composer and performer Jullie Hjetland was born in Denmark in 1981 and was brought up in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, yet in addition, she has also lived both in Greenland and Finland. She completed her bachelor’s degree in folk music at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense and, following studies in Stockholm (Royal College of Music), Helsinki (Sibelius Academy), Odense and Bergen, she was awarded a master’s degree in folk music from the Ole Bull Academy in Voss, Norway (part of the University of Bergen). She masters all the three Scandinavian languages. She has been an active musician since 1999, and with her clean and recognizable voice, she has developed a successful singing career. She has been featured on jazz, folk and electronic recordings, concerts as well as a wide variation of projects and performances. She has given concerts and taken part in workshops in many countries including Canada, Germany, Estonia, Brussels, Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Latvia as well as in all the Scandinavian countries including Iceland and the Faroe Islands. In 2013 / 2014 she was the main conductor in both dancing performances and plays at the theatre Mungo Park in Kolding and sArt Dancing Company. She also performed at designer Mads Dinesen’s runway show at the 2013 Berlin Fashion Week.
Her solo album Lukkif, produced by the electronic musician Rumpistol and Hans Mydskov, will be released in 2015.

Sigurd Hole was bron in Rendalen in Hedmark, Norway and is an acive bassplayer in the Norwegian jazzscene. His main projects are the Eple Trio and Jon Eberson Group. Sigurd also teaches improvisastion and ensembles at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he finished his masters degree in 2008.