STELLA PACIS – Kjell Mørk Karlsen

Stella Pacis
While I was contemplating a theme and a title for this music, I was thinking about today’s situation with hopeless wars and conflicts all over.  What we need is a Star of Peace that shines for us and gives hope for all the millions of innocent victims who are suffering on this planet – a planet which should be a Paradis for humanity. At the beginning of the piece, the Star shines with a solo voice on the organ. But in the dramatic middle section, it has to fight against all the world’s suffering and death.
After this, we again hear the hope and comfort from the shining Star.
The conclusion points to the hope and goodness that will be there for us at the end.

Kjell Mørk Karlsen
Organist and composer Kjell Mørk Karlsen (b. 1947) is one of the most prolific and respected figures in Norwegian cultural life, strongly committed both to his art and to cultural management. He grew up in a family of musicians, receiving organ lessons from his father Rolf Karlsen from the age of fourteen. He continued his education at Oslo Music Conservatory, from where he graduated in 1968 with a degree in organ and church music. He took degrees in oboe and recorders the following years and in 1980–81 he pursued further organ studies with Finn Viderø in Copenhagen. In 1983/84 he studied composition with the Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen in Helsinki.
For more than 50 years Mørk Karlsen has been active in the musical life of Norway as orchestral musician, organist and choir conductor. Today he dedicate most of his time to composition. His comprehensive output includes symphonies, oratorios, instrumental concertos, chamber music and music for choir and organ.