Cecilie Ore’s Dead Pope on Trial was commissioned by Nordic Voices and casts a critical light on the church’s past relationship to power and superstition. In the year 887, when Pope Formosus had laid at rest in his grave for nine months, he was brutally torn from his eternal slumber to stand trial. He was accused of abusing his papal ministry and bestowing an honour upon himself which he had not deserved. The concert programme of Nordic Voices fits well in the festival’s thematic focus on female artists, where we highlight composers, musicians and conductors who today are helping to shape and work within the classical music scene. In the first half of the concert, Nordic Voices will perform works about women, featuring music by the Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria and contemporary composer Gavin Bryars, and in second half works written by women with the previously mentioned Dead Pope on Trial by Ore and A Dismantled Ode to The Moral Value of Art by Maja Ratkje.