Name: “Skiá” MINI-OPERA CONCERT AND TALK
Start: 2026-02-13T16:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-02-13T18:00:00+01:00
Location: Notam

$\u201cSki\u00e1\u201d MINI-OPERA CONCERT AND TALK$

“Skiá” for solo performer and multimedia is a mini-opera by Martyna Kosecka that addresses issues of ageism, objectification and the gendered discrimination women face at various situations and points in life. The composer approaches this theme by examining womanhood through the metaphor of a city — evolving, changing, built, destroyed, rebuilt, yet always enduring. Our experiences, both uplifting and painful, shape who we are. Those marked by prejudice, discrimination, or stereotyping are particularly important to voice — and to transform into art. Who is she then, that woman behind the veil, watching the sunset over Oslo?
The premiere of Kosecka’s new mini-opera performed by the versatile singer Elisabeth Holmertz will take place on 13 February 2026 at 16:00 at NOTAM (Myrens Verksted 3A, Oslo).
The program opens with a presentation by composer and researcher Martyna Kosecka, introducing her artistic doctoral project “Mini-opera: on the dramaturgy of protest”, realized at the Norwegian Academy of Music. The premiere is preceded by a pre-concert talk with Maria Børja, PhD Candidate at the University of Oslo’s Centre for Gender Research, focusing on questions of the body, gender, and womanhood in art and cultural practice. Following the performance, light refreshments will be served, creating space for informal discussion and exchange.
The event is free and open to the public.
The event will be held in English.

Supported by the Norwegian Academy of Music, Arne Nordheim Centre for Artistic Research in Music, The Norwegian Society of Composers and The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (DKNVS)

About the contributors:
Singing and Elisabeth Holmertz chose each other after the 8-year old Elisabeth saw Rossini’s La Cenerentola at the opera house (”Storan”) in her hometown of Gothenburg. She also wanted to become an opera singer, stand on stage in fancy costumes, and sing beautiful music. Her path was a pretty straight one, through music lessons, music high school, musicology studies, classical singing at the Academy of music in Oslo, and in Cologne. Somewhere, the dream of becoming an opera singer waned and was transformed into becoming “just” a singer. This particular singer found her voice mainly in the improvisational music of the 17th century and the complex music of today.
She has been a soloist with Concerto Copenhagen, Cikada, Ensemble Ernst, and both the Norwegian and Danish Broadcasting Orchestras, however she cherishes most her own projects the most: ongoing collaborations with flute and drum artist Poul Høxbro and lutenist Fredrik Bock; new music and improvisation with harpist Sunniva Rødland and percussionist Sigrun Rogstad Gomnæs (Permatrio); founding member of ensemble Odd Size, who, among other things, performed a version of Handel’s Messiah for only four musicians; she’s crossed musical boundaries with pianist Kenneth Karlsson.
In 2020 she completed a PhD in artistic research at The Norwegian Academy of Music. Here she explored her own varied artistic roles, while striving to expand the boundaries of what is expected from a classically trained soprano by performing all of the roles in Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orfeo.

Maria Børja is a PhD Candidate at the Centre for Gender Research (STK) at The University of Oslo, where she is investigating gender quality and representations of body and gender in ballet. She is also a journalist and writer with over 20 years of work experience from e.g. The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, The National Theatre and Dagbladet. She has published three works of fiction: The Whole World Must Love Us (Hele verden skal elske oss, 2023), Grown-Up Things (Voksenting, 2010), and the novel New City (NY BY, 2013) and co-edited several literary anthologies. She is a member of The Norwegian Authors’ Union and lives in Oslo.

Martyna Kosecka’s music grows out of her interest in philosophy, physics, linguistics and the mythologies and fables of the world. She is a Polish composer, performer, conductor, curator and researcher in new music. In her projects she works with narratives, microtonality, symbolism and ritualism, by using multidisciplinary solutions. She emphasises the richness of transcultural relationships in art, drawing from the cultures of Iran, Poland and Norway, the countries she has connected through her life.
Her compositions are published by Donemus Holland. Her music is performed at festivals and concerts around the world, including the International Festival of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn, rainy days festival, Ostrava Days Festival or Music Biennale Zagreb.