Welcome to the opening of Borealis 2026! This year’s festival opens with a sensuous music and performing arts production, where powerful expressions, beautiful visuals, and compelling soundscapes allow the audience to experience the story of the ancient seabird mountain, Vedøya.

This performance, which is a lyrical tribute to Vedøya on Røst in Nordland/Nordlánda, in Sápmi/Sábme, emerges from multidisciplinary artist Elin Már Øyen Vister’s long-term artistic research project Soundscape Røst, which began in 2010, in which they have followed and documented changes in the Røst archipelago’s soundscape and explored archival material from Norway and abroad. The work receives its premiere at Borealis, performed by an extraordinary ensemble of co-creating artists and performers.

The seabird mountain Vedøya was once one of Northern Europe’s most abundant breeding colonies for seabirds. At the mountain’s height of its glory, the landscape was filled with a deafening cacophony of kittiwakes, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, and auks. The idea that this unique place could one day fall silent was unimaginable. Yet it happened – in spring 2019, the kittiwakes nested for the very last time, and the bustling life came to an end. Since then, silence has slowly spread across the Røst archipelago.

Vedøya – Laments to the birdmountain who lost their voice takes us on a journey through layers of time, where the mountain itself tells its ancient origin story. We hear about the first encounters with the seabirds and their ancestral mother, tjáhtjelådde maddo, who symbolizes the relationship between humans and nature – and about human encounters with the island up to the present day, marked by the critical decline of seabirds on Røst.

The performance allows the audience to experience Vedøya’s story through images, film, dance, field recordings, and music – from newly composed contemporary works to traditional Northern Norwegian songs and Sámi vocal traditions such as luohti and joik – complemented by poetic text, memories, and conversations. What unfolds on stage has been developed through a collaborative creative process, in direct engagement with the mountain – with its landscape, sounds, and stories that have taken shape there.

After the performance, the audience is invited to stay with the performers to share impressions, thoughts, and feelings together – both in conversation and in silence. Anne Cecilie’s famous Røst fish soup and a vegetarian alternative will be served to warm our bodies. Together, we can reflect on what has unfolded on stage, process the loss of biodiversity we are witnessing, and perhaps sow a seed of hope.