We had a fantastic tour, most concerts sold out. Thanks the lot to a wonderful audiences!

Also thanks to the amazing band & crew.

We had some great reviews as well. The below one is different, but really do understand what the art of ice music is all about.

Published Nov 25, 2025

Antony Lain

𝐈𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬: 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

There are moments when art stops being performance and becomes revelation. On Sunday evening at King’s Place in King’s Cross, listening to Terje Isungset’s Ice Music, I found myself witnessing not just a concert but an act of belief.

Think about it.

Take giant blocks of naturally hewn ice — precarious, fragile, melting by definition — and decide, “I’m going to make instruments out of this.” Not symbolic instruments. Real ones: a percussion set chiselled from a frozen lake; a harp carved from winter itself, a keyboard.

Then imagine being responsible for them: keeping them intact on tour, tuning them even as they shrink, playing them on as they melt towards nothingness. Imagine composing, performing, singing while knowing that your instruments are dying slowly in your hands.

That’s not just creativity. That’s a vision so audacious it borders on madness.

And yet — there it is. Ice instruments ringing like bells from another planet: Norway, nature, animals, peace, love, beauty — all refracted through melting water and human will.

The impossible, made real.

𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

I wrote an article a few weeks ago on four hypotheses by Professor Frank Blackler of Lancaster University titled: Blackler’s Quartet: Four Provocations That Tilted My Thinking: Memory as Enemy. Goals as Hypotheses. Truth as Lies. Dreams as Reality.

Ice Music is a supreme example of Dreams as Reality. But, Isungset doesn’t just show ‘Dreams as Reality’; he exposes the uncomfortable truth that reality is built through discipline, not imagination alone.

Most dreams aren’t rejected because they’re unrealistic. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Anything ambitious demands persistence and belief. Think about Ice Music: cold rooms, precise handling, international transport, custom-made tools, and endless patience. Ice Music isn’t really about ice — it’s about process: climate-controlled rooms, delicate logistics, precise handling, instruments that must be rebuilt block by block. It’s the engineering behind the poetry. That’s the grind behind the magic, the part most people won’t see until it works.

So what does this mean for the rest of us — business, leadership, transformation?

Three simple rules:

1.𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭. Pursue them anyway. Every transformation starts as someone carving the seemingly impossible from nothing. I wrote an article recently about transformation as obliteration: The obliteration of old ideas, old orthodoxy, old thinking. It's not just improving the present.

2. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. Dreams become reality only when supported by meticulous craft. Terje Isunget talks about it taking 26 years to develop his craft to the one we see on stage today.

3. 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. Not safe. Not predictable. But brave. Performance and transformation share a truth: both require someone to step into the light with something unproven, fragile, and brave. Dare to dream, dream to dare.

In a world obsessed with efficiency and incremental change, we need more “ice music” moments — projects that make people say, “You’re doing what?” until the day they whisper, “Oh. Now I see.”

Because sometimes the most fragile ideas are the ones that echo the longest.

𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:

• Do you have a performance or transformation you remember forever? And what made it unforgettable?

• What’s the most ‘bonkers’ idea you’ve ever seen succeed?

# Terje Isungset #DreamsasReality #Transformation