Ice Music in the Schnalstal Valley

• The fourth iceMusic Festival took place in 2010.
• Concerts were held in an ice cave in the glacier area.
• Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset was among the musicians.
• Instruments for the performances were made from ice.
• Temperature and material were part of the sound and performance.

Ice music uses frozen water as a sound-producing material. Musicians play instruments carved from ice, whose resonance differs from that of wood or metal. Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset is among the pioneers of this ephemeral form of acoustic art. During a performance, the material itself becomes part of the music: temperature, shape and workmanship influence what can be heard.

For the 2010 edition, Isungset carved instruments from glacier ice. Sidsel Walstad and Lena Nymark also performed on stage with him. It was the festival’s fourth edition, and the concerts took place in an ice cave in the glacier area.

The venue made the concert more than an ordinary stage event. The audience entered an ice cave cut into the glacier area, where the unusual acoustics brought music together with architecture made of ice. Visitors arrived both on skis and on foot. The setting within a winter-sports area shaped how people reached the event, while the performance itself provided a distinct cultural programme.

The performance was intentionally temporary. Ice can change shape and sound as temperature changes, creating an artistic quality as well as a practical limit. The form and tone of an ice instrument belong to the particular performance and place. Musicians combine material, carving and playing technique to create sound that responds to the glacier environment.

The cave was itself part of the concert venue: it was an 18-metre-high hall cut into the glacier. Musicians could ski to the performance and ski back down to the valley afterwards. This unusual combination of glacier space and live music distinguished the event from a conventional concert stage and shaped both access and the atmosphere inside.