a-ha’s Magne Furuholmen joins Tallinn Music Week 2026 conference lineup
Magne Furuholmen—keyboardist of a-ha and co-writer of the global hit “Take On Me”—will join the Tallinn Music Week (TMW) conference to discuss breaking out from Norway, paving the way for Nordic music on the international stage, and navigating parallel careers in music and visual arts.
The TMW 2026 conference takes place at the Nordic Hotel Forum in Tallinn from 10–11 April, co-hosted in collaboration with Music Estonia.
Magne Furuholmen composed the iconic synth riff of “Take On Me” aged just fifteen. Co-written with bandmate Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, the song reached number one on the Billboard chart and became the fifth most-streamed song of the twentieth century. The track’s enduring appeal—from dance floors and karaoke stages to commercials and playlists decades after its release—has made it a defining moment of 1980s pop and a cultural touchstone far beyond Norway, a country then little known for its pop music. Furuholmen also co-wrote other a-ha classics, including “Stay on These Roads”, “Manhattan Skyline”, “Cry Wolf”, and “Minor Earth Major Sky”.
In 2012, King Harald V appointed Furuholmen Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav for his services to Norwegian music—an honour shared with his bandmates Morten Harket and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy.
Alongside his music career, Furuholmen has maintained a professional visual arts practice. His output ranges from painting to performance, most widely recognised as a sculptor and printmaker. Furuholmen’s work is represented in institutions worldwide, including the Norwegian State Archives and Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Among major commissions are “Resonance” for the city of Bergen and “Imprints”—Scandinavia’s largest ceramic sculpture park. In 2025, the National Arts Club in New York staged an exhibition of his woodcut prints inspired by Henri Matisse’s designs for the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence.
In conversation with British author, journalist and music historian Kieron Tyler, Furuholmen will reflect on the extraordinary journey of a-ha and his parallel career in visual arts, revealing what it takes to break out from a small European country, the lessons behind creating a global pop phenomenon, and the importance of sustaining artistic integrity.
Kieron Tyler is an acclaimed music journalist and author whose work about the intersection of music, culture, and place has appeared in The Guardian, The Observer, Mojo, Uncut and The Arts Desk.
Furuholmen joins a lineup of TMW 2026 conference speakers including Resident Advisor co-founder Paul Clement, saxophonist and composer Maria Faust, former Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, Glastonbury’s Green Futures Field Production Manager Lisa Branigan (Nasta), Cooking Vinyl founder Martin Goldschmidt, and more.
TMW 2026 runs from 9–12 April in Tallinn, with the conference at Nordic Hotel Forum from 10–11 April and the showcase festival across the city’s venues from 9–11 April.TMW 2026 passes are on sale at the TMW webshop. PRO Pass (€225, end price €250) provides access to the TMW conference and DigiPRO platform as well as priority access to the music festival. Festival Pass, granting access to all music festival events, is available for €79 until 10 February (end price €95).