Research group Bifrost

Geir Davidsen and Ragnar Rasmussen

The Bifrost research group focuses on the exploration and use of Low Latency interaction technology for musical practice, conducting and teaching. The group contributes with the development of strategies and practices for musical collaboration and practice in the field.

Technical solutions for low latency interaction have existed for several years, but have been considered costly and complicated. It is mostly the technology communities that have worked on this and invited practitioners in to test out concepts. The costs have gradually been greatly reduced and the infrastructure for interaction is to some extent in place through the development of high-speed internet.

The group has an artistic focus where the development of music for the medium and communication is central. The interaction between technological tool development and musical exploration drives the project forward. Central is the work with ensemble management and choir direction in web-based setups, where one looks at methods for visual, non-verbal communication of musical nuances in an ensemble context, which includes sound processing/intonation and agogics/pulse/rhythmics. The group also works to develop good pedagogical solutions for online music teaching, as a supplement to "live" teaching. 

Women, Opera and the Public Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice (WoVen)

The interdisciplinary project ‘Women, Opera and the Public Stage in Eighteenth-Century Venice’ (WoVen) brings together a research team dedicated to reimagining the links between women and European operatic culture in the eighteenth century.

WoVen explores the role of operatic women in the construction, representation, and reception of models for women in the eighteenth century. The project contextualizes the activities of female performers, composers, authors, theatre managers, patrons, and audience members within wider contemporary critical discourses about women’s education and place in society.

Project leader Melania Bucciarelli

Research Group in Musicology/Ethnomusicology

The Research Group in Musicology/Ethnomusicology includes Melania Bucciarelli, Roman Hankeln, Thomas Hilder, John Howland, Nora Bilalovic Kulset, and Tore Størvold, and Tone Åse.

The group’s research spans topics from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century with specializations in:

• Western cultivated/concert music: Italian opera and musical theatre; medieval liturgical vocal music; and German Lieder.
• Popular music, jazz studies, and music in media
• Music, culture, identity: feminist, queer, postcolonial perspectives
• Music and the social sciences (cognition, psychology, health)
• Community music, well-being, and applied methods
• Ecomusicology and music in the environmental humanities
• Artistic research