Det Norske Jentekor
The Norwegian Girls Choir is a choir with proud traditions as an independent continuation of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s girl choir, which was established in 1947. In addition to singing the core repertoire for equal voices, the choir has always specialized in contemporary music and folk music. Several of Norway’s foremost composers have created music for it, and few other choirs get to premier so many pieces. The choir also shows its strong social and global engagement through its repertoire and choice of locations, and it is also initiating many genre-eliminating musical encounters. It has released 5 albums and its recording Folketoner from 2018 was Grammy-nominated for Best Immersive Album.

The Norwegian Girls Choir has always been, and still is, an important institution in Norwegian cultural life, and has fostered a large number of professional singers and artists, many of them well known. The choir’s main ambition is to act as a choir school enabling girls to develop independent musicianship and to reach a level of musical expression that touches themselves as much as their audiences. This gives them, as musicians, understanding, experience and curiosity – qualities which serve them well in their professional lives as singers, and in other capacities contributing to cultural life.

Anne Karin Sundal-Ask
has been conductor and artistic leader of the Norwegian Girls Choir since the spring of 2005. She studied conducting, flute and music pedagogy at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim and at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Sundal-Ask has received many honours for her direction of choirs, and she has led many choirs to notable results in international competitions. She received the “Performer of the Year” award for 2019 from the Norwegian Society of Composers. As artistic director of the Norwegian Girls Choir she has commissioned new music, and collaborated closely with many Norwegian composers. She is willing to let young people in their most formative years participate in the creative process of performing new works and thus contribute directly to the quality of their music-making. This approach also helps young people develop a broad musicianship. She is described as an inspiring leader who, while always striving after quality, also conveys her musical goals to the singers so that each and every one of them can perform optimally. Her focus on intonation, timbre and ensemble work is one of her hallmarks, and she works continuously to develop the choir’s musical expression.