WORLD PREMIERE Joel Lindberg's winning OKNOS
On April 22-25, Joel Lindberg’s OKNOS, the winning entry in the newly established composition competition The Jan Sandström Competition, will have its world premiere. Joel Lindberg deeply moved the jury with his personal work on unprocessed anxiety. The Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra will perform under the direction of Isabelle van Keulen.
(photo: Jenny Gustafsson)
Joel Lindberg studies composition at the School of Music in Piteå, Luleå University of Technology. OKNOS is composed for string orchestra and explores the silent, persistent currents of mental illness. In Greek mythology, Oknos was a figure in the underworld, condemned to eternally weave a rope that a donkey then endlessly ate. The story revolves around the tension between suppression and return, and how unprocessed anxiety seeps back, no matter how deeply it is buried.
Composer Jan Sandström is among the world's foremost in his field, with decades of worldwide success. In the autumn of 2026, he will retire from the School of Music in Piteå, where he has served as a professor of musical performance since 1989. To mark his work at the School of Music, Luleå University of Technology, in collaboration with Norrbottensmusiken and Gehrmans Musikförlag, has established a composition competition in his name – “The Jan Sandström Competition”.
OKNOS will be premiered during a tour with Norrbottensmusiken:
April 22: Öjeby Church
April 23: Kulturens Hus, Luleå
April 24: Arjeplog Church
April 25: Överkalix Church
Isabelle van Keulen and Svante Lindqvist - Norrbottensmusiken