VoNo

About VoNo

VoNo is a professional vocal ensemble whose goal is to develop and renew vocal performing arts in a way that affects the listener on an emotional and personal level. The twelve singers and artistic director Lone Larsen have their musical core in the classical choral repertoire and work with improvisation and creative co-creation as a method for creating a unique musical experience. Courage, playfulness and individual dependability in combination with carefully crafted polyphonic choral music provide variety and a strong interaction with the audience. VoNo's performances, concerts and films focus on culture, society and sustainability. The ensemble is based in Stockholm and tour actively, mostly in Scandinavia and Europe. VoNo was founded in 1999 under the name Voces Nordicae.

About Lone Larsen

Lone Larsen is one of Europe’s most innovative choral conductors and professor of choir conducting. She was born in 1973 in Denmark and trained as a music teacher at the North Jutland Conservatory of Music in Aalborg, and has lived in Sweden since 1998. In 2000 she graduated in choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, and then moved to New York, USA to study at the Juilliard School of Music. In recent years she has been guest conductor for Eric Ericson's Chamber Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir, recurring teacher of Choral Art at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity in Canada and choirmaster, conductor and artistic project manager for several performances at Folkoperan in Stockholm. In 2008, she was named Choir Leader of the Year by the Swedish Choir Leader Association.

At the center of Lone Larsen's musical work is ”creative co-creation” – a method she has developed over twenty years with her own professional vocal ensemble VoNo. Lone Larsen's long experience of teaching group improvisation in combination with her musical knowledge, integrity and innovation makes her one of Europe's most sought after workshop and masterclass teachers and jury members at international choral competitions. Alongside classical music, Lone Larsen has worked extensively with music from Afro-American traditions and her interest in folk music is present in VoNo’s performances.

Compassion and sustainability are two key words that have followed Lone Larsen in her musical career, not least in the performances and concerts she performs with VoNo, but also as a teacher at Conducting 21C, an international course organized by the Eric Ericson Choral Center that gives choral leaders tools to work in different social contexts.

"I love teamwork and the interaction between the choir as a form of expression and each singer's individual artistic potential. My constant goal is to affect the listener on a personal and emotional level, and that journey often involves experimentation and improvisation in situations where we do not know the outcome. The creative process is my home."

- Lone Larsen