2025 has been a year of new initiatives, new collaborations – and a lot of music that has created meeting places across artistic expressions, backgrounds and generations. Here are some of the highlights we are bringing with us into the holidays.
Skattekista: first year in Groruddalen – and what a start!
2025 marked the first year that Samspill acted as the main organiser of the children’s festival Skattekista – and the first time the festival was held in Groruddalen. The festival took place over two weekends, with Skattekista at Schous and Skattekista at Rommen, offering a large, free family programme with both stage performances and participatory activities.
At Rommen, the festival opened with a large-scale stage production in which children and young people from the local community themselves shared the stage with professional artists. The response was warm and clear: "This festival shows how we can meet across differences. There is room for everyone here, no matter who you are or where you come from,” said Mayor Anne Lindboe from the stage.", said Mayor Anne Lindboe from the stage.
Skattekista has been a celebration of curiosity, play and cultural encounters – with concerts, dance performances, activities and workshops throughout the day. We are already looking forward to the next edition in 2026!
New focus in 2025: Samspill Klassisk
In 2025, we launched a completely new concert series and project: Samspill Klassisk. For the first time, we have worked more explicitly towards and together with the classical music field, through the productions Silkeveien and Sør for … – presenting classical music traditions from different cultures in the church spaces of Gamle Aker Church and Holmlia Church.
Silkeveien brought together Harpreet Bansal (violin), Javid Afsari Rad (santur), Sanskriti Shrestha (tablas) and Reshail Mansoor (vocals), taking the audience into an Indo-Persian repertoire inspired by poets such as Hafez and Rumi. The concert at Gamle Aker Church was performed to a full house.
Along the same lines, Harpreet Bansal has also curated Global lunch concerts at Sentralen – short, free concerts in the middle of the working day, held in the Winter Garden and featuring artists and traditions from around the world.
Silkeveien was also presented at the Drammen Sacred Music Festival, and through Samspill Klassisk we continue to support the Global lunch concerts series at Sentralen.
OK Sessions became OK FEST!
Music knows no borders – and in Oslo, musicians from all over the world live side by side as both carriers and innovators of tradition. Together with OKWorld Records and Nasjonal jazzscene – Victoria, we transformed the OK Sessions concert series into a three-day festival: OK FEST. A weekend of genre-blending, strong encounters and the very best of the world in Norway.
“Borrow a tradition musician” – collaboration with UNOF
In 2025, we also had the pleasure of collaborating with UNOF on the project “Borrow a tradition musician” – an initiative that brings living musical traditions directly to where people are, opening doors to new audiences, new venues and new relationships. This year, school and amateur orchestras in Oslo have been visited by professional tradition musicians with backgrounds from, among others, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Brazil.
2025 in numbers
The year in numbers (preliminary)
2025A brief overview of our activity level in 2025, based on preliminary data:
Thank you to all artists, partners, venues, volunteers and audiences who made 2025 possible. We wish you a wonderful Christmas – and look forward to new encounters in 2026!
