Nobel Peace Prize Concert

The Nobel Peace Prize Concert (Norwegian and Swedish: Nobels fredspriskonsert) has been held annually since 1994 on 11 December to honour the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The award ceremony on 10 December takes place in Oslo City Hall, while the concert has been held at Oslo Spektrum, with the attendance of the laureate and other prominent guests. The Concert is broadcast to a global audience and reaches up to 350 million households in 100 countries.
In 2015 the concert venue was moved from Oslo Spektrum to the much larger Telenor Arena. The concert was held there until it was cancelled in 2018, replaced by an outdoor Nobel Peace Party which was organised outside the Oslo City Hall. In 2021 the Concert was relaunched in collaboration with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, architectural firm Snøhetta and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.
The concert features performers from a wide range of musical genres with the exception of the 1995 concert, which featured only classical works. Several editions of the concert are recorded, with different lengths and content, for airing in different countries.
The hosts give descriptions of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate's work as well as an interview with the laureate. The laureate gives a speech during the concert.
In 2018, the concert organizers announced that the show would be put on hiatus for 2018, hoping to hold a relaunched concert the following year. The official website stated, "The decision emerges from a wish to re-think the concert format and content but also reflects the challenging financial situation of the concert in recent years. Moreover, people’s media preferences have undergone radical change since the first concert in 1994. This is something the concert organizers and producers are keenly aware of as they move forward. We have struggled to maintain an appropriate level of financing and want to use the year ahead to develop a new format for the concert. Our ambition is to launch a renewed and better concert in 2019. [...] We plan to use this break to further develop the format and strengthen the financing beyond the continuing and generous support of our long term Norwegian sponsors. The firmer our financial base, the stronger our independence in choice of concert format and profile, say concert producers Odd Arvid Strømstad (Warner Bros. Norway) and Kristian Kirkvaag (Gyro)."
Since planning starts in January, the artists invited to the concert aren't typically connected to the winner, who is announced in October. However, a few late additions are usually made to reflect the winner. Originally, the show was hosted by Norwegian celebrities or television personalities. However, since the year 2000 hosts have with few exceptions come from the United States. The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is the main orchestra every year.
This year a concert featuring only classical works was held.
Harry Connick Jr brought 35 musicians with him on stage, when performing at the concert in 1997.
At the concert in 1998, American TV network Fox, did not include A-ha's performance, which was edited out. Another performance edited out by Fox in 1998, was Norwegian artist Espen Lind's "Pop From Hell". The word "hell" was not the problem, but the following sentence: "You make me so hard/because you're a star". A Fox-producer stated it would be too much to take for the American family audience. Espen Lind was told his performance would not be edited out if he did not include the word "hard" in the song, but he would not change the lyrics. He said he did not want to let himself be controlled by a double-moralistic American family channel, and that such compromises were not acceptable for him to make.
The 2001 concert's closing song was "Let It Be", performed by Paul McCartney and the other artists.
The Grand Finale in 2002, performed by all the artists, was "Imagine" by John Lennon.
The Grand Finale in 2003, sung by all the artists, was "Imagine". Robert Plant sang and changed the word "religion" with "division" in the sentence "Nothing to kill or die for/ And no division too".
The use of Tom Cruise as a host created some controversy both from people fearing it could be used to promote Scientology and from people who were unhappy with his supportive statements on the Iraq War. There was however no mention of Scientology during the concert and Cruise has stated his remarks on the war were misquoted. The Grand Finale was led by Patti LaBelle. For the third year in a row, the song chosen for the finale was John Lennon's "Imagine".
The Grand Finale in 2005, sung by all the artists, was "Give Peace a Chance".
The artists joined Lionel Richie on stage at the end of the show when/after he was singing "All Night Long".
The artists joined Diana Ross on stage at the end of the show when/after she was singing "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)".
The Grand Finale in 2009, sung by all the artists, was Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror".
All artists performed Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" as the finale to the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
All artists joined with Angélique Kidjo on the stage singing the song "Move On Up" as the finale to the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
Much of the concert of 2014 was influenced by Bollywood performances.
One of the surviving Hibaku pianos, a series of pianos that were successfully restored following the Hiroshima and Nagaski atomic bombings in 1945, was featured during the event. It was played by John Legend during his and Zara Larsson's duet. This was the last concert before a hiatus was announced in 2018.
No regular Nobel Peace Prize Concert was held in 2018, as the organizers decided to look at the event and make changes. An alternative concert was planned for 9 December 2018. It was estimated that the original Nobel Peace Prize concert will appear again in a different format in 2019, however this has not proven to be the case.
Hosts: Kåre Magnus Bergh and Silje Nordnes
Artists for alternative concert:
The full lineup for this concert wasn't disclosed, but one of the notable headliners was jazz singer Angelina Jordan.
This concert was combined with a talk show that featured halftime performances by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and several well-known recording artists, but the full lineup wasn't disclosed.
The lineup for this concert has yet to be revealed.
59°54′46.68″N 10°45′16.74″E﻿ / ﻿59.9129667°N 10.7546500°E﻿ / 59.9129667; 10.7546500