Nobel Peace Prize Concert
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert (Norwegian and Swedish: Nobels fredspriskonsert) has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in Oslo City Hall, while the concert has been held at Oslo Spektrum, with the attendance of the laureate and other prominent guests. The Concert is broadcast to a global audience and reaches up to 350 million households in 100 countries.
In 2015 the concert venue was moved from Oslo Spektrum to the much larger Telenor Arena. The concert was held there until it was cancelled in 2018, replaced by an outdoor Nobel Peace Party which was organised outside the Oslo City Hall. In 2021 the Concert was relaunched in collaboration with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, architectural firm Snøhetta and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.[1]
The concert features performers from a wide range of musical genres with the exception of the 1995 concert, which featured only classical works. Several editions of the concert are recorded, with different lengths and content, for airing in different countries.
The hosts give descriptions of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's work as well as an interview with the laureate. The laureate gives a speech during the concert.
2018-2020 Hiatus[edit]
In 2018, the concert organizers announced that the show would be put on hiatus for 2018, hoping to hold a relaunched concert the following year. The official website stated, "The decision emerges from a wish to re-think the concert format and content but also reflects the challenging financial situation of the concert in recent years. Moreover, people’s media preferences have undergone radical change since the first concert in 1994. This is something the concert organizers and producers are keenly aware of as they move forward. We have struggled to maintain an appropriate level of financing and want to use the year ahead to develop a new format for the concert. Our ambition is to launch a renewed and better concert in 2019. [...] We plan to use this break to further develop the format and strengthen the financing beyond the continuing and generous support of our long term Norwegian sponsors. The firmer our financial base, the stronger our independence in choice of concert format and profile, say concert producers Odd Arvid Strømstad (Warner Bros. Norway) and Kristian Kirkvaag (Gyro)."