ULVER To Perform On Main Stage At Norwegian National Opera

Progressive Norwegian rock/metal band ULVER will perform on the main stage at the Den Norske Opera & Ballett (Norwegian National Opera and Ballet) — Norway's biggest culture and stage institution — in Oslo on Saturday, July 31 with special guests Ian Johnstone and Christian Fennesz.

ULVER, early pioneers of Norwegian black metal, now living legends of the dark music industry, have since the early Nineties sold half a million albums worldwide. The band has also made music for several major motion pictures, and the controversial American director Harmony Korine sums it up: "There's a real lineage from a composer like Wagner to a band like ULVER."

Author and rock legend Julian Cope says: "ULVER are cataloguing the death of our culture two decades before anyone else has noticed its inevitable demise."

During its first fifteen years, ULVER never played live, which contributed to the shaping of its legendary history. When Mr. Stig Sæterbakken finally succeeded in persuading the band to play their first concert at the Norwegian Festival of Literature in May 2009, fans came from all over the world — including Australia, Japan, Canada and the U.S.

ULVER's concert at the Den Norske Opera & Ballett will mark the first and last time the band will perform on a major stage in Oslo in 2010.

Oslo's new Opera House opened on April 12, 2008 and is now the home of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. The spectacular building has a fabulous location by the seaside and was designed by renowned Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta.

The Norwegian Opera & Ballet presents a rich and varied program from three stages: The main theatre (1,369 seats),Scene 2 (400 seats) and the Rehearsal theatre (200 seats).