Odense City Museums commissioned us to create a new visitor experience dedicated to Carl August Nielsen, Denmark’s most celebrated composer. The ambition was to create a place where visitors discover the man behind the music and feel his music as a living force, full of Nielsen’s spirit.

The Carl Nielsen Museum won European  Museum  Academy's main prize, the Micheletti  Award in  2024, and was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award that same year.

The central challenge of the brief was to create a visitor journey that reveals the man through his approach to music. Marred by a turbulent marriage and the struggle to be recognised, Nielsen’s life was complex. He poured those experiences into his art.

His unique style, approach to structure and creative process reflect Nielsen himself. We chose to focus on his craft, leaving the visitors to interpret the meaning of his music. To allow space for visitors own interpretations of Nielsen’s oeuvre, we created a narrative framework that focuses on the work itself, its quality and artistry, rather than the meaning behind the music.