Musikkfestuka in Narvik: Knut Reiersrud & Iver Kleive

Knut Reiersrud and Iver Kleive are behind one of the most distinctive collaborative projects in Norwegian musical life. Their partnership began with the album Blå Koral in 1991 and has since evolved through a series of releases and concerts in churches and concert halls across the country.

The project has maintained a consistent format and clear continuity, with guitar and church organ as its core elements. The repertoire draws on hymns, Norwegian folk tunes, and original compositions, without shifting concept from one release to the next.

The concert is based on the album Vidunderligst av alt på jord (The most wonderful of all on earth), released in 2025. The album was recorded in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim and launched during the Olavsfest festival the same year. It marks the first time the duo has recorded a full album in a Norwegian cathedral, continuing a long-standing collaboration with a distinctive artistic identity.

Over the years, Reiersrud and Kleive have reached a wide audience, notably through the music that concluded the opening ceremony of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994. The project has retained its place in Norwegian musical life for decades, both as a concert format and through its recordings.

Knut Reiersrud is a guitarist and composer with an extensive career in concerts and recordings spanning blues, folk, jazz, rock, and church music. He has contributed to around 300 recordings and has won three Spellemann Awards. Reiersrud has composed music for film, theatre, and television, and has for many years been a prominent and active voice in Norwegian musical life, also as a broadcaster through the radio program Bluesasylet on NRK.

Iver Kleive is an organist and composer, regarded as one of Norways leading performers within church music. He has appeared as a soloist with several Norwegian symphony orchestras and has contributed to nearly 200 recordings. In 2017, Kleive was appointed Knight 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav for his contribution to Norwegian musical life, and he has received several awards for his work as a musician and composer.

https://musikkfestuka.no/