Sven van Calster

Arctic Challenge

Arctic Challenge takes inspiration from the TV documentary North Pole Airport. In this programmatic work, the composer takes the listener to Barneo a drifting Russian research station that is established annually, for the month of April, about 100 kilometres from the North Pole. The first of the three movements (Barneo Base Camp) is about the construction of the camp. Movement two (Into the Snow) depicts the constant factor of the mission: snow. In the third movement (Dance around the Earth & Finale) we hear of a tourist who visits the station to perform their Œdance around the earth¹.

In 2014, Sven Van Calster won the second prize at the international composition contest of VLAMO (Belgium) with this attractive work.