HØST
About HØST
The four women in the vocal quartet Høst (DK/SE) have come together through a shared desire to create a vocal playground. Their vision is to explore and challenge the traditions of both Nordic folk music and modern polyphonic singing, solely using four voices. Drawing inspiration from instrumental folk music from the Nordic region, Bulgarian women's choirs, and the harmonic universe of jazz, the group creates a new sound of Nordic a cappella. The repertoire includes a spring symphony of bird chirps, powerful and raw dissonances, and rhythmic poetry.
In 2023, they released the album "Fuglesang" - a tribute to the inherent power of nature and the voice. The debut album received warm reviews, and the quartet received five nominations at the Danish Music Awards - Roots that same year, winning the Composer of the Year award. Additionally, the vocal group has won two awards at the international vocal group competition at the Aarhus Vocal Festival in 2022, as well as the second prize at the Tampere Vocal Festival in Finland in 2023.
Høst offers a vocal counterpoint to the Danish folk music scene, but the quartet's members Lene Høst, Liv Vester, Maja Freese, and Filippa Westerberg are already well-versed in both vocal and instrumental folk music and are known from groups such as Vingefang, Vesselil, Huldrelokkk, Barani, Mynsterland and Kaisin, among others.
I was totally impressed with the sound of their opener - so much so, that I had to check with the technician to make sure there was no harmonizer, looper, or playback in their performance. I am proud of such a strong FEMALE ensemble!
- Kim Nazarian, judge at Aarhus Vocal Festival ‘22
Der er en rå urkraft i det de laver som gør, at de skiller sig ud fra mange andre vokalensembler på en fed måde.
- Roar Amundsen, Songcrafter Music, Vocal Line
“The singers clearly enjoyed singing together and wanted to bring joy to the listeners with their singing. The singers have beautiful voices and amazing voice control, and they had the music in their bodies. Their stage presence was interesting and clear”
- Jussi Chydenius, Bob Chilcott, Susanna Lukkarinen, Janis Siegel, Morten Vinther Sørensen, judges at Tampere Vocal Music Festival ‘23
Dynamisk, groovy og nøgent udleverende. Arrangementerne er skrevet så man tydeligt hører hver enkelt stemme og dens kvaliteter. Indimellem er det jazzet med tætte klange, andre gange er stemmerne instrumentale og rytmiske, og indimellem følges de ad i historiefortællingen. Der er både et råt, oprindeligt og groundet udtryk og en smuk klang.
- Emma Björling, Kongero, Lyy m.fl.
About the singers
Liv Vester Larsen (DK), educated from the folk music department (violin) and the soloist program - Contemporary Creative Artist (violin, voice and composition) with her debut performance “Creative - without nature?”. Liv has played in theatre productions such as “Højskolesangbogen” at the Kgl. Teater, toured abroad with Huldrelokkk and Kelpie and in DK she plays with Mikael K and Klondyke, Alamente and collaborates with SLØR Visual performance amongst others. This multitasking musician is focusing on thinking out of the box and being creative, blurring the lines between the many genres she works within and still keeping true to her roots - and she loves dissonances.
Maja Freese (DK) has a bachelor degree in 5-stringed cello from the folk music department at the Danish National Acadamy. She has recently composed a song that was incorporated in the 19th edition of Højskolesangbogen (“Leonoras Morgendigt”) and you can experience Maja as a singer, cellist and composer in the trio Vesselil, a group that puts focus on women’s stories and faiths in old folk music. Maja also plays in Vingefang, Barani Duo, Mynsterland and Bianca Nisha among other constellations. She loves to combine cello and song, music with groove and to dust off forgotten old songs and show the relevance and soul of it.
Lene Høst (DK) is a singer, composer and teacher. With roots in the Nordic folk music she has also explored other genres and styles from countries like Tanzania, Bulgaria and Brazil. Lene has a bachelor degree in folk music and a master in rhythmical singing and choir conducting. Her passion to combine polyphonic singing with traditional vocal music is the inspiration for many of her musical projects, here among the trio Vingefang and the choir Roots. You can also experience Lene in the folk/baroque-trio Alamente and early music ensemble Via Artis Konsort. She is also working as a teacher at the Danish National Academy in Esbjerg at the folk music program.
Filippa Westerberg (SE) is a singer, cellist and composer with a master degree in classical cello from SDMK Odense and educated from the soloist program - Contemporary Creative Artist (cello, voice, composing) from SDMK in Esbjerg.
Filippa is a freelance artist performing and writing music from different genres - mostly classical, jazz, pop and folk music. She has been spotted on various musical scenes, in Odense symphony orchestra, with hiphop artists and opera singers and you can currently find her in different projects and bands for example world music group Kaisin. Filippa is writing and arranging music for the group and other settings. The voice and its possibilities has always been at the core of her musicianship.