Musikk for sjøbading: Paragorgia

The ticket provides access to the pool, sauna, and changing rooms from 10:00 AM.
Concert: 11:00 AM–12:00 PM.

Free entry for season pass holders at Nordnes Sjøbad.

Bergen-based Hardanger fiddle player, composer, and award-winning performer Benedicte Maurseth, Kode's Composer-in-Residence for 2026, brings her unique musical universe to the historic outdoor bath Nordnes Sjøbad to create a special session for floating listeners – Borealis' annual concert ritual Music for Sea Bathing.

In recent years, Benedicte Maurseth's creative work has largely focused on themes related to biodiversity and ecosophy. The inspiration for her previous works has often come from her home region at Hardangervidda in Eidfjord, where concrete sounds from mountain folk and wildlife have been key elements in the compositions, based on her background in Norwegian folk music and inspired by minimalism and free improvisation.
In the Borealis commission Paragorgia, she explores aquatic biodiversity connected to the Hardanger Fjord, Norway's second-longest fjord, an environment that is both vulnerable and under high pressure. Paragorgia is the name of the slow-growing, colorful sea tree considered near-threatened, which lives in deep fjords and seas. The tree can grow several meters tall and form coral forests that are important habitats for other species.

In Paragorgia, Maurseth combines Hardanger fiddle, vocals, and compositional ideas with rhythmic and melodic percussion, synthesizer, and electronic sounds, in collaboration with one of Norway's leading percussionists, Håkon Mørch Stene. Together, they honor and interpret the horn coral paragorgia, as well as other vital ecosystems such as coral reefs, bamboo coral, plankton, and other species native to the Hardanger Fjord.

Read more at https://www.borealisfestival.no/