Photo: © Hakon Kornstad

Hakon Kornstad [No]

HAKON KORNSTAD SAXOPHONE VOCALS ELECTRONICS

This saxophone is a voice. It has a great deal to say, especially in its tonal extremes—in overblowing, in the rhythm of the key clicks, very close to the human voice. And then Håkon Kornstad actually uses his own voice, for he only discovered singing later on. In 2009, when he had long been one of Norway’s most prominent saxophonists and had been nominated multiple times for the Spellemannprisen, he began studying classical singing. In 2014, he completed a master’s degree at the Norwegian Opera Academy. Since then, a classical tenor with a Nordic timbre and a saxophone playing that constantly explores the instrument’s limits have stood side by side on equal footing. Everything is dedicated to a single goal—to penetrate to the very core of what music has to say.

For Kornstad, “solo” means: saxophone, flute, flutonette, voice, and live looping. The Guardian wrote that he had transformed something that could have been a circus act into a musical tour de force. That he is now performing this in the Bleckkirche—Gelsenkirchen’s oldest church, built in 1735, featuring a Renaissance altar from 1574—is more than just a lovely idea. Here, a space that has been listening for centuries meets a musician who wants nothing else.