Magnetic North Orchestra

Magnetic North Orchestra established in Oslo, Norway (1992–2005) was a Norwegian jazz orchestra, created and led by Jon Balke.[1] MNO was originally a jazz ensemble inspired by Oslo 13, put together with strings and percussion. As Olympic musical ambassador from 1993 to 1994, for the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Jon Balke created the work Magnetic North for a larger group, and under this name (MNO) he has toured in Europe, USA and Japan.[2]

This article is about the Norwegian jazz orchestra. For the British band, see The Magnetic North. For other uses, see Magnetic North (disambiguation).

Magnetic North Orchestra
Origin	Oslo, Norway
Genres	Jazz and contemporary music
Years active	1992–2005
Labels	ECM Records
Website	Magnetic Music Official Website
Members	Jon Balke Per Jørgensen Arve Henriksen Jens Petter Antonsen Morten Halle Tore Brunborg Fredrik Lundin Bjarte Eike Peter Spissky Gertrud Økland Henrik Hannisdal Odd Hannisdal Trond Villa Marek Konstantynowicz Jonas Franke-Blom Svante Henryson Morten Hannisdal Thomas Pitt Anders Jormin Ingar Zach Helge Norbakken

MNO was further developed with fourteen string musicians from "Stavanger Symfoniorkester" for the production Grand Magnetic (2001), and in a version with the "TrondheimSolistene". After 2002 they had close cooperation with Balke's band Batagraf. The lineup has varied from seven to thirteen.[3]

Members

• Jon Balke (piano, keyboards, percussion, electronics)[4][5][6][7][8]
• Jens Petter Antonsen (trumpet)[4]
• Per Jørgensen (trumpet, vocals)[4][5][6][7][8]
• Arve Henriksen (trumpet, vocals)[5][6]
• Fredrik Lundin (bass flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone)[7][8]
• Morten Halle (alto saxophone, flute)[4][5][6]
• Tore Brunborg (tenor and soprano saxophones)[4]
• Gertrud Økland (violin)[4]
• Henrik Hannisdal (violin)[5]
• Odd Hannisdal (violin)[5]
• Bjarte Eike (violin)[7][8]
• Peter Spissky (violin)[7][8]
• Trond Villa (viola)[4]
• Marek Konstantynowicz (viola)[5]
• Jonas Franke-Blom (violoncello)[4]
• Svante Henryson (violoncello)[6]
• Morten Hannisdal (violoncello)[5]
• Thomas Pitt (bass violin)[7][8]
• Anders Jormin (double bass)[4][5][6]
• Marilyn Mazur (percussion)[4]
• Ingar Zach (percussion)[7][8]
• Helge Norbakken (percussion)[7][8]
• Audun Kleive (drums)[4][5][6]

Commissioned Works

• Il cenone (Vossajazz, 1992)
• Magnetic North (OL Lillehammer, 1994)
• Grand Magnetic (Copenhagen, 2001), augmented Magnetic North with a 14-piece string group[3]
• ECM Autumn Cycle (Dublin, 2005)[8]

Discography

• Further (ECM Records, 1992)[4]
• Solarized (Emarcy, 1999)[5]
• Kyanos (ECM, 2002)[6]
• Diverted travels (ECM, 2004)[7]
• Magnetic Works 1993-2001 (ECM, 2012), compilation[9]

On Video

• Live in Brussel's (Prospect Media, 2005), Video documentary
• Magnetisk musiker (NRK, 2004), video portrait made by Audun Aagre

References

1. "Magnetic North Orchestra - Bransjeregister MIC.no".
2. "Jon Balke Biography - SNL.no". Store Norske Leksikon (in Norwegian
3. "Jon Balke & Magnetic North Orchestra Biography - GubeMusic.com".
4. "Further - ECMrecords.com".
5. "Magnetic North Orchestra: Solarized - Puls.no".
6. "Magnetic North Orchestra Kyanos Review -". BBC.co.uk
7. "Jon Balke and Magnetic North Orchestra: Diverted travels - Listen to Norway MIC.no". Archived from the original on 2010-05-28. (by Tomas Lauvland Pettersen)
8. "Live Reviews: ECM Autumn Cycle – Jon Balke's Magnetic North Orchestra Whelan's, Dublin, 17 November 2005 - JournalOfMusic.com".
9. "Magnetic Works 1993-2001 - ECMrecords.com". Archived from the original on 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2012-09-08.

External links

• Magnetic Music Official Website