About

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​Vidar Kristensen (b. 1975) is a Norwegian composer whose musical language combines rhythmic drive, lyrical expression, and a fascination with colour and contrast. Since 2009, much of his work has been shaped by East Asian musical traditions, particularly through his deep personal connection to Taiwan and his long-standing interest in Indonesian gamelan, which he performed for a year as a student. These influences appear both directly — through references to folk melodies and musical scales — and indirectly, through timbral ideas, structural thinking, and a sensitivity to atmosphere.

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​His catalogue includes solo works and chamber music. Many of his pieces are inspired by travel, memory, and cultural encounters, always filtered through his own musical language and a Western contemporary framework. Although his early works, such as the Sonata for Flute and Piano (2004), use a more dissonant and Western‑modernist idiom, they already contain musical signatures that recur throughout his later music: fourth‑ and seventh‑based harmonies, energetic rhythmic figures, and recurring motivic cells.

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Kristensen’s music has been performed by international artists and ensembles, and his works have appeared at festivals including the Norwegian Viola Festival, Viv’Alto en Cévennes in Lasalle, France, and the three most recent International Viola Congresses in Thailand, Brazil, and France. His compositions often explore contrasting musical landscapes, combining tonal and dissonant elements, ethnic references, and his own harmonic language, taking listeners and performers on vivid musical journeys.

 

About his approach to composing, Kristensen writes: “Through every piece I write, I want to take listeners and performers on a musical journey through different, colourful landscapes. When the piece ends, I aim for a sense of ‘coming home’ — not in the sense of returning to something unchanged, but in the sense of arriving enriched, excited, and moved by the experiences the journey has given.”