Nordic – A Fragile Hope A holistic experience in the embrace of nature

In Nordic – A Fragile Hope the audience got to see the Nordic coasts as they never seen them before. Unique film projections filled the Great Hall in a concert experience created by film and photojournalist Joakim Odelberg, director Andrea Östlund and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. It was about the fragile sea and the fragile hope we nurture for our future.

See the movie from the world premiere in Gothenburg Concert Hall 2024.

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Unique film projections

Nordic – A Fragile Hope is based on exclusive footage taken by film and photojournalist Joakim Odelberg from sea and coastal environments in all Nordic countries. In Gothenburg Concert Hall, the material was projected onto all the walls and ceiling of the hall. A spectacular experience where the sea embraced both orchestra and audience and got us all embraced by the nature.

Journalist, diver and presenter Joakim Odelberg carries out extensive work to inform about how fragile the environment is. And how important it is that everyone takes their responsibility.

– Water is the element that I am most passionate about. It is also the element that best conceals how bad shape it is in, but also possesses such incredible resources that can make a big difference to our planet, says Joakim Odelberg.

Here you can join him and his team in their filmproject – under and above the surface:

In Nordic – A Fragile Hope the unique filmmaterial are shown to the flow of music written by five prominent Nordic composers: Icelandic Daníel Bjarnason, Norwegian Maja S.K. Ratkje, Swedish Mats Larsson Gothe, Finnish Outi Tarkiainen and Danish Miho Hazama. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra also makes recordings of the unique compositions.

– For a long time I’ve had my vision in my head, but when you hear the music it becomes almost unreal. It’s fantastic, says Joakim Odelberg.

Andrea Östlund is directing the cinematic experience we get on site in the Concert House. She has previously worked with productions such as Lea, Vår tid är nu, Zebrarummet, 30 grader i februari and Gynekologen i Askim.

– The heart beat a little extra when I was asked to direct Nordic – A Fragile Hope; five projectors, Joakim’s fantastic pictures, newly written classical music with the Swedish National Orchestra in one of the most beautiful buildings I know. In a time when we are inundated with images indiscriminately, I can think of nothing more meaningful than to be part of creating a beautiful, emotional and cinematic experience that is about our environment.

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Specially composed music

With the music as company, we are lured along to dramatic landscapes in the film projections that fill the Great Hall. It will be a breathtaking experience when five prominent composers from all Nordic countries present newly written music about the great challenge of our time, conducted by Christian Karlsen.

The music is specially composed by Daníel Bjarnason (Iceland), Miho Hazama (Denmark), Mats Larsson Gothe (Sweden), Maja S.K Ratkje (Norway) and Outi Tarkiainen (Finland). With inspiration from the Nordic nature, they shine a light on the sensitive resources we must nurture for the future.

The family and school concert A Fragile Hope was a shorter, adapted version of the full-length concert Nordic – A Fragile Hope, where the audience get to experience parts of the newly composed music with fantastic framing of filmed material as in the evening concerts. Kasper Wolf Stouenborg was the video artist at the concert hall.

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How the project began

The project started in 2019 with the aim of a world premiere in 2021, but a pandemic got in the way. Now we are finally looking forward to experiencing this in February 2024.

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Listen to the music

In connection with the project, an album was created with the music from Nordic – A Fragile Hope. Listen to the music where the sea tells its own story here!