Tora Augestad

Tora Augestad’s versatility inspires composers, theatre directors and conductors. Born in Bergen in 1979, the singer/actress studied classical music and jazz singing in Oslo and Stockholm, devoting herself principally to repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is sharing the podium with musical partners such as the Ensemble Modern (“Three Penny Opera”), Ensemble Contrechamps, Klangforum Wien, Remix Ensemble (Berio’s “Folk Songs”), Finnish Chamber Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne (“Manoury’s Lab.Oratorium”), the Bamberg Symphony, the SWR Symphonieorchester (Filidei’s “The Red Death), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (“Pierrot Lunaire”, “Seven Deadly Sins”), NRK Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, she founded the ensemble MUSIC FOR A WHILE, made up of high-class musicians from the Norwegian jazz scene. After the release of their first CD “Weill Variations”, the singer was awarded the renowned Lotte Lenya Prize in 2008. Her solo-CD “Portraying Passion” with Oslo Philharmonic featuring works by Weill, Ives and Paus has been nominated by the German Record Critics’ Award as best recording 2019. It also has been awarded the Spellemannprisen 2019, the Norwegian Grammy. Tora Augestad was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2015, the most important cultural prize in Scandinavia, and was awarded as Performer of the Year by the Norwegian Composer Society in 2018. The collaboration with the Swiss director Christoph Marthaler, which began in 2010 with the premiere of Beat Furrer’s “Wüstenbuch”, has become a constant in her artistic life. After the success of Marthaler’s “Meine faire Dame” at the Theater Basel, “Lo Stimolatore Cardiaco” in Basel and production of “Sale” at the Zurich Opera House followed. The staged recital “King Size” went on tour to cities worldwide. The production “Last Days. An Eve” was premiered at the Wiener Festwochen and she performed in “Hallelujah”, “Bekannte Gefühle, Gemischte Gesichter” and “Tessa Blomstedt gibt nicht auf” at the Volksbühne Berlin. In 2018 the Charles Ives-tribute “Universe, Incomplete” at the RuhrTriennale followed, for which she has been nominated Singer of the Year 2019 by Opernwelt magazine.