Førdefestivalen

The world meets in Førde!

Førdefestivalen is the largest festival for trad and world music in Scandinavia, presenting about 80 acts from 30 venues and 250 artists from all over the world for 25-30 000 visitors each year. In addition, we arrange concerts and other events during the year. The festival is regarded as one of the most important in Norway, and receive grants from the National Arts Council, the region and the municipality. The festival runs for five days in week 27 every year. In 2019 the festival got the EFFE Award 2019-2021 as one of the five best festival in Europe regardless of genres. For many years the festival was rated among the 25 best world music festivals worldwide by the international music magazine Songlines. It has been rated on the Guardian’s top 10-list of smalltown festivals in Europe, and on National Geographic's top 7 list of festivals in Europe.

The festival programme is of great variety, with concerts, workshops, exhi­biti­ons, children’s events, dance evenings etc. Plus different kinds of projects during the festival week and throughout the year.

The main festival arena is the culture centre, “Førdehuset” with four concert halls from 170 to 2500 seats. Festival events also take place in hotels, museums arts centres and outdoor stages in and nearby Førde, altogether about 20 venues.

Unique music in unique surroundings: Førde is a small town on the western coast of Norway, 150 km north of Bergen, surrounded by fjords, mountains, glaciers and waterfalls.