Bodil Maroni Jensen Photo: Trond A. Tune
After more than 30 years as a music journalist for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio programmes, I began working on a freelance basis in the autumn of 2015. With new music, new music drama and classical music as my areas of expertise, there was no obvious market to access, but by establishing working relationships with a variety of clients I have managed to create a most enjoyable and rewarding career.
I was particularly interested in finding out what kind of response I would get abroad as a freelance journalist with clients from small websites in Norway. The answer was that I have gained access to everything I have needed – press tickets, press photos, appointments for interviews – everywhere I asked, whether at the Royal Opera House in London, the Salzburg Festival or the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. This is evidently related to the current media situation. Not many music journalists are coming from the major media companies these days. A freelancer has full access to this material today.
As a result of the limited coverage devoted to the art music sphere by the traditional media, websites such as Ballade, KlassiskMusikk and others representing various art and culture institutes have emerged as important channels for publicising this material. Most of my reviews and articles have been published on sites like these, some of them only here.
Grants from the Fritt Ord Foundation’s journalism project and Arts Council Norway have provided support for several of my articles. Travel grants from the Fritt Ord Foundation and the Norwegian Critics’ Association have also been helpful.
In July 2017 I established musikkjournalistikk.no as an archive for my freelance work, in order to gather my widely dispersed activities in one easily accessible place and to enable me to publicise my own ideas. The website is operated in accordance with Rights and Duties of the Editor and the Norwegian Press Association’s Code of Ethics.
I hold a Master’s degree in music from the University of Oslo, with literature and history as subsidiary subjects.
Details from some of the pictures I have created can be seen on various pages.
Bodil Maroni Jensen, 11 July 2018
Translated by Shari Nilsen
Alle foto av Bodil Maroni Jensen: © Trond Alexander Tune
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