Håkon Kornstad ”Tenor Battle”
”the concert with the Kornstad Tenor Battle Ensemble at North Sea Jazz was one of the biggest surprises in the festival” Nederlandse Dagblad
Håkon Kornstad has been a centerpiece of an entire generation of young jazz musicians, with innovative bands like Kornstad Trio and Wibutee in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Håkon Kornstad was on his way as one of Norway’s most acclaimed saxophonists with a fast-growing jazz career. What happens next? In 2009 Håkon Kornstad was in New York to hear the Italian opera Cavaleria Rusticana at The Met. A couple of weeks later he met a retired soprano on the Upper West Side to take his first opera voice exercises. A few years later, Håkon Kornstad has completed his opera education and was singing at the Norwegian Opera.
Despite a new career in a completely different music genre, Håkon Kornstad did not leave Jazz. Instead, he found a unique way to combine the two genres; In “Tenor Battle” the tenor saxophonist meets the tenor voice. The operas of Gluck and Bizet meet Scandinavian jazz tunes. The result? Breathtaking and unique.
Håkon Kornstad, tenor, tenorsax, whistle, loop machine Sigbjørn Apeland organ, Lars Henrik Johansen, cembalo, cimbalon, Per Zanussi, double bass, case, Øyvind Skarbø, drums
