Vidar Kristensen

Vidar Kristensen (b. 1975) is from Arendal in the South of Norway. He was educated with piano as his major at Agder Music Conservatory in Kristiansand, Norway, before continuing with composition studies at Birmingham Conservatoire, University of Central England.

His earlier pieces are characterized by a strong rhythmic drive, chords built on fourths and sevenths, and the contrast between dissonant and tonal episodes in the music.

These characteristics are also present in his more recent music, but since 2009 his musical language has also seen a strong influence of Asian elements, particularly inspired by the music, nature and culture of his second homeland – Taiwan as well as Japanese music and Indonesian gamelan music.

These characteristics give his music a rich colour palette and takes the listener through changing musical landscapes.

His music has been performed in 13 countries, in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Most notably his music was played, and received outstanding reviews, at the International Viola Congress in Thailand in 2023 and in Brazil in 2024.

In 2025 he will be the festival composer of the Norwegian Viola Festival, one of the biggest viola festivals in Europe.

In recent years he has worked with notable performers as, for example, Povilas Syrrist-Gelgota, Yejin Gil, Alexander Baillie, Jean-Marie Cottet, Peter Nagy, Roman Reznik, Delphine Constantin-Reznik and Zorá String Quartet.