Artists
Aira Maria Lehtipuu
violin
Aira Maria Lehtipuu is a versatile Finnish violinist specialised in early music. She enjoys music-making both by performing and teaching and is known for being a passionate, humane and collaborative musician.
During her career she has worked in several of the top-level ensembles of the European Early music scene. Her roles as a musician spans from concertmaster and soloist, to viola player in repertoire from the 17th century to contemporary cross-over folk baroque. She loves performing chamber music and has rooted herself firmly in the European Early Music scene, performing regularly with Helsinki Baroque and Finnish Baroque Orchestras. Lehtipuu lives in Tampere, Finland, where she runs the Café Barock concert series and uses every opportunity to go Nordic skating on the surrounding lakes.
Anders J. Dahlin
tenor
The Swedish tenor Anders J. Dahlin is considered to be one of the leading French haute-contres of his generation.
Anders began his studies at the conservatory of music in Falun, Sweden and at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen Denmark, where he has a postgraduate degree from the soloist class under Professor Kirsten Buhl Möller.
He regularly works with conductors such as Christophe Rousset, Emmanuelle Haïm, Hervé Niquet, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Alexis Kossenko, Francois-Xavier Roth, René Jacobs, Mark Minkowski and Philippe Herreweghe, and frequently sings with major orchestras throughout Europe. In 2014 Anders J. Dahlin was the recipient of the prestigious Jussi Björling award.
Anna Dego
dance
Anna Dego has her Diploma from the Theatre Academy of Teatro Stabile, Genua/Italy.
Since 1998, she has excelled within the dance company of Adriana Borriello, in performances such as Tammorra, Kyrie and Animarrovescio.
In 2000, Anna Dego participated in the production From Ritual to Dance, which was arranged by the European Community to advance the careers of young dance talents.
In 2001, Dego had an important role in the production of Nododiamante at the international festival of Polverigi (Ancona), being responsible for staging and direction. In 2004, her piece Ostinato premiered in Rome.
For theatre, Anna Dego has contributed to numerous productions, such as Ista Laus et passione domini (Spoleto Teatro), La mia scena è un bosco (Teatro dell Tosse, Genua), Elettra (Teatro greco, Syrakus), Tribuna centrale (Teatro Vittoria, Rom), Cyrano de Bergerac (Teatro degli Incamminati), Tango barbaro (Teatro Stabile, Genua) and many more.
Since 1994, the dancer in collaboration with Claudio Collové in Palermo perfected new experimental stageings of pieces like Giacinti (after T.S. Elliot), L’isola incandescente, Miraggi corsari (after P.P. Pasolini) and La caduta degli angeli (after W.B.Yeats).
As a soloist, Anna Dego has worked since 2002 with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar.
Anthony Marini
violin
American violinist Anthony Marini has performed around the world as a soloist, orchestra member and chamber musician.
His performances have taken him across the North American, South American, and European continents. As a soloist, Anthony has been heard with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra, and the Sibelius Academy Baroque Orchestra. He is also an active recitalist, and is known for his creative and varied programming.
Anthony specializes in the historical performance of early music, and is often seen leading as concertmaster or section leader in several ensembles, including Ensemble Zaïs, La Cie du Globe, the Baroque Orchestra of the Conservatoire de Paris, the Jeune Orchestre Atlantique, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra’s STORIA Orchestra. Anthony is very active in chamber music, and performs with Les Étrangers, Corde Sonore, the 2nd Floor Consort, and Ensemble Il Caravaggio, as well as in a duo with harpsichord player Laura Ollberg. His performances have been broadcast by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) and WETA (USA), and can be heard on Les Ambassadeurs’ recording of Rameau fopr the Erato label and Ensemble Zaïs’ recording of Rameau and Händel for the Paraty label. As a freelance musician, Anthony is in demand as both a modern and baroque violinist and violist.
Anthony has a love for learning new instruments as well as folk music. He has studied viola da gamba with Veli-Markus Tapio (and performs with the Jaye Consort), nyckelharpa with Emilia Amper, viola d’amore with Thomas Georgi, and various Nordic fiddling traditions with Tommi Asplund. Anthony plays a violin made by Jason Viseltear, made possible by the support of the Finnish Cultural Fund.
Antoine Torunczyk
oboe
Currently Principal Oboe in the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra as well as in Concerto Copenhagen, Antoine Torunczyk frequently collaborates with many of the main period instruments orchestras in Europe.
Antoine is also a very active chamber musician, and co-founder of l’Assemblée des Honnestes Curieux, winner of the Premio Bomporti Early Music Competition in Rovereto (Italy), as well as l’Accademia dei Dissonanti, together with musicians such as Sébastien Marq, Amandine Beyer, Javier Zafra, Tami Troman, Chiaopin Kuo.
Fascinated by eighteen eighteenth century repertoire from an early stage, Antoine specialized in Early oboe performance practice, first in the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon under guidance of Michel Henry, then in Amsterdam’s Sweelinck Conservatorium, with Alfredo Bernardini. He graduated in 2000, and the same year he won First Prize in the baroque oboe competition in Halle (Germany).
He has been taking part in numerous recordings, as an orchestral player or as a chamber musician or soloist : Pierre Philidor Suites for oboe & BC (Zig Zag Territoires), Handel’s sonatas of several parts (ZZT), Bach double concerto (with violin player Amandine Beyer) and concerto for oboe d’amore (Alpha)… Antoine is very involved in pedagogy and is currently teaching early oboe in the Early Music Department of both Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) and Paris Region Conservatory (CRR). He is webmaster of the Hautboy Companion, a pedagogical website about early oboe.
Barokkanerne – Norwegian Baroque Ensemble
For over 30 years, Barokkanerne has been a cornerstone in building up a Norwegian Early Music scene with concert series in Oslo, tours and countless festival performances, continuously also investing in new generations of Early Music performers.
The ensemble is a fusion of the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra and Barokkanerne. Both were founded in the late 1980s as the very first independent professional Baroque orchestras within historical informed performance practice in Scandinavia. The ensembles’ overall discography is substantial, and their first release after the merger, Es heißet Wunderbar (2018) with music by Telemann, Graupner, Fasch and JS Bach, has received a plentitude of glowing reviews.
Barokkanerne collaborates with various outstanding performers as artistic leaders and soloists, such as Alfredo Bernardini, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Lars Ulrik Mortensen. For many years, the ensemble has also taken new paths to set Baroque music in context and invite the audience up close, by tearing down genre barriers and presenting the music in new ways. Of productions in recent years can be mentioned Nordic Four Seasons in which the musicians discard their sheet music and join in on the fun with the actor Jan Martin Johansen and the tenor Anders Jerker Dahlin in Vivaldi’s famous music and Scandinavian songs about the Nordic seasons; Christmas concert and recording with the Norwegian pop trio No 4, as well as several encounters with folk music – such as the concert performance Christian Quart’s Christmas with the hardanger fiddler Benedicte Maurseth and singer Berit Opheim, and From Versailles to Virtuosic Valdres with Ragnhild Hemsing on hardanger fiddle, Baroque dancer Elizabeth Svarstad and Ulf-Arne Johannessen from the internationally renowned dance company FRIKAR
Berit Opheim
singer
In her multifaceted career, Berit Opheim has been performing folk music, Mediaeval contemporary, improvised and Early Music.
She regularly performs as a soloist and in ensembles within on the Norwegian folk music scene, and she has since the 1980s taught at the Ole Bull Academy, which specialises in Norwegian folk music. She has given numerous seminars and workshops and have established several singing groups for children and adults. She has won the Norwegian (Norwegian Grammy – Spellemannprisen) equivalent of the Grammy Award four times, and has often been chosen to be on the jury panel.
Berit Opheim has premiered numerous works and participated in about 45 album recordings. Since 1991 she has collaborated with the composer Lasse Thoresen who has written many works specifically for her.
Over the years she has worked with Nils Økland, Sigbjørn Apeland, Rolf Lislevand and Grete Pedersen and frequently collaborated with ensembles like the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Oslo Chamber Choir, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Kalmar Chamber Orchestra. Other musical partners are Karl Seglem, Terje Isungset, Benedicte Maurseth, Håkon Høgemo, Bjørn Kjellemyr, Gabriel Fliflet and Leif Stinnerbom.
Berit Opheim participated in “Tryllefløyta” (“The Magic Flute”), a folk opera (2005/2006), where she had the roles as the Queen of the Night and Papagena. She also composed the commissioned work for the festival Vossa Jazz 2007, with Ståle Storløkken.
She was earlier a member of the vocal group Trio Mediæval. She published the book ”Solæ mi sela”, a collection of folk songs from Voss, in 1995.
In 2017, she composed the work “Tidekverv” with the Hardanger fiddle player Benedicte Maurseth.
Bjarte Eike
violin
Baroque violinist Bjarte Eike pushes the boundaries of classical music, constantly looking for new projects in the borderland of genres and reaching out to new audiences with his infectious playing and style.
As the Artistic Director of Barokksolistene, he has created new and innovative programmes including The Early Joke; a journey through musical history exploring different aspects of humour and music; The Image of Melancholy dealing with sad songs and emotions through renaissance, folk and experimental music and the critically acclaimed Alehouse Sessions which explores 17th century music from the pubs and alehouses in England and which continues to play to sell-out audiences throughout Europe. Commercial recordings include The Image of Melancholy for BIS and The Alehouse Sessions on Rubicon Classics, the latter being awarded with the German Opus Klassik prize in 2018.
Although rooted in Historically Informed Performance practice, the strives to include other artistic aspects in his performances, using visual arts, dance, storytelling and improvisation. Major collaborations include Handel’s Alcina at the Norwegian National Opera, Vespertine with choreographer Liam Scarlett, a staged Messiah with Netia Jones at the Bergen International Festival and recordings and concerts with jazz pianist Jon Balke, This broad, unifying approach to music, as well as a desire to curate exhilarating new experiences for audiences has led to him being invited to be Artist-in-Residence at a broad spectrum of festivals, and as a conductor he is increasingly in demand for play-direct engagements with major symphony orchestras.
Bjarte Eike teaches baroque violin at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and is a guest-teacher at the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen.
Bodø Rhythm Group
Bodø Rhythm Group (BRG) is a jazz ensemble from Bodø. The ensemble was established in 2004 and has been a part of Bodø Culture House since February 2005.
Today, BRG is organized under Stormen library, and consists of the musicians Martin Högberg (guitar), Finn Sletten (drums) and Christo Stangness (bass).
Martin Högberg was educated at the Jazz department of the university NTNU in Trondheim, and has also been teaching Jazz guitar and ensemble playing etc. in the years 2008-2017. As a freelance musician he has performed with artists like Lill Lindfors, Martin Taylor, Lina Nyberg, Helene Bøksle and Ole Edvard Antonsen. Martin is currently on the record with several CD releases in his own name, including trio record “Panorama” with drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen and bassist Aksel Jensen.
Finn Sletten is one of the most experienced Norwegian jazz drummers. After a study trip to Arizona (1968–70), he played in his hometown Bodø with, among others, Paul Weedensband. In Oslo he participated in the Magni Wentzel Quintet, with Jon Eberson, Tore Brunborg, Jon Balke, Michael Bolton and a number of others. From 1988 he played with iTrio Nord, and he has contributed to a number of recordings – among them Ola Bremnes Vær hilset! (1995), Marit Sandvik Band, Nordland Jazzforums Distant Reports (2001), and Tore Johansen and Jan Gunnar Hoffs work Free Flows (2005). In 2009, Sletten was awarded the Stubø Prize for being «a significant pioneer and source of inspiration for several generations of northern Norwegian jazz musicians». The same year, he also received the prestigious Gamleng Award.
Christo Stangness is a freelance bass player, originally from Harstad. He is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music in Tromsø and a member of a number of bands and projects, including Frio, Durmål and Across The Bows. He is also a highly regarded freelancer throughout the region.
Céline Scheen
soprano
Céline Scheen is a Belgian soprano whose touring has led her to all the big musical centres of Europe, as well as far as New Zealand and Carnegie Hall in New York.
Although her teenage dream was to be a rock star or sing French Chansons, she attended the subjects of classical concert and opera singing at the conservatory in Mons, as well as flute and voice at the conservatory in Verviers.
She went on to the Brussels Conservatory, the Brüsseler Chapelle musicale Reine Elisabeth and Guildhall School of Music in London, where she made the decision to dedicate her career to Early Music.
The spotlight caught Scheen when she participated in the soundtrack used for the renowned movie “Le Roi Danse” (2000), along with the ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel.
Since then, she has performed in numerous opera productions, among others at the Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, Théâtre de Caen and Opéra du Rhin, in the role of Thérèse in Poulenc’s „Les mamelles de Tirésias“, Frasquita in Bizet’s „Carmen“, Grilletta in Haydn’s „Lo speziale“, Zerlina in Mozart’s „Don Giovanni“ und Philonoé in Lully’s „Bellérophon“. Under the baton of René Jacobs she performed in the Brussels opera house La Monnaie in Gluck’s „Alceste“, Cavalli’s „Eliogabalo“ and Mozart’s „Die Zauberflöte“.
As a concert singer, she has performed solo parts in works ranging from Bach and Mozart to Fauré and Orff, with ensembles such as Musica Antiqua Köln, Il Fondamento, Ricercar Consort, Cappella Mediterranea, La Fénice, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Les Talens Lyriques, L‘Arpegggiata and Le Concert des Nations.
Christina Pluhar
artistic director
Christina Pluhar is conductor, lutenist, harpist, arranger, composer and director of the ensemble L’Arpeggiata.
Born in Austria in 1965, Christina Pluhar has established herself as one of the most innovative musicians of the Early Music scene. Audiences and critics alike adore the liberated, spontaneous and highly virtuosic way of making music which Pluhar has introduced to listeners worldwide, through her work with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata. Her albums and concerts have created a current of inspiration and style throughout the Early music movement, as well as opening doors to a new audience of curious and adventurous listeners.
Christina Pluhar har her education from the Hague, Basel and Milan, and has since 1992 been based in Paris, performing regularly with ensembles such as La Fenice, Hesperion XXI, Il Giardino Armonico, Les Musiciens du Louvre and Concerto Soave. From 1997 to 2005 she worked as assistant to Ivor Bolton at the Munich State Opera, the Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Hamburg Opera and the Maggio Musicale in Florence.
Pluhar founded the ensemble L’Arpeggiata in 2000, and the years since have brought many successes, prizes and distinctions. The various recordings have been awarded prizes such as Echo Klassik, Edison Preis, VSCD Muziekprijs, Cannes Classical Awards, Timbre de platine d‘Opéra international, BBC Magazine, Prix Exellentia Pizzicato, ffff Télérama, Coup de cœur de l’Académie Charles Cros etc.
Christina Pluhar is also a renowned opera conductor. As in her work with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata, she is in her opera work constantly on the lookout for new and interesting approaches. Her performances are historically informed but radical in approach, always keeping an eye on the historical context, whilst simultaneously creating an exciting musical and scenic experience for the audience. Many of her opera adaptations have been referred to as true “audience magnets”.
Concerto Copenhagen
Concerto Copenhagen played its first concerts in 1991 and has since developed into one of Scandinavia’s leading Baroque Orchestras, joining the league of the world’s most exciting and innovative Baroque orchestras.
Since 1999, the collaboration between Concerto Copenhagen and Lars Ulrik Mortensen has proved to be an exciting artistic and musical journey, appreciated and praised by audiences and critics worldwide, combining a repertoire of well-known European music with less familiar works of Scandinavian origin, including contemporary music.
Now approaching its 30th anniversary, the orchestra continues to stay relevant, further exploring Early Music and energizing audiences worldwide by pushing the boundaries of Baroque Music.
Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble
The Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble was founded in 1971 as the first Baroque orchestra in the Nordic region.
The original six members, at the time leading musicians at the famous Drottningholm Royal Court Theater, set as an overarching goal to perform music from the 17th and 18th century on period instruments. Today, the ensemble has grown considerably to allow orchestral music from the time of Claudio Monteverdi to symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven, including a full string section, wind, brass, harpsichord, lute and percussion.
Over the years, the ensemble has had the opportunity to perform in a large number of countries, more or less covering all continents – Europe, USA, China, Japan, Africa and Australia. Numerous well-known artists and conductors have chosen to work with Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble. Among these, conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, Sigiswald Kuijken, Emmanuelle Haim and Alfredo Bernardino, as well as soloists like Anne Sofie von Otter, Malena Ernman, Emma Kirkby and Barbara Hendricks can be mentioned. Numerous concerts and international tours have been arranged together with Eric Ericsson’s Chamber Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir and we have played with practically all the leading choirs throughout Sweden. The ensemble is also regularly invited to play at formal ceremonies at the Royal Court.
The ensemble has recorded a variety of period music on more than 60 recordings on a number of labels, EMI, BIS, Naxos and Musica Svecia, to mention a few. The recording of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” was internationally acclaimed and selected ‘best recording’ by the highly prestigious German magazine Audio.
The overall aim is to perform early music in a ‘playful’ way, yet at the highest musical and technical level. Significant effort is put into reaching out to new audiences by establishing novel, interesting and challenging constellations. This is exemplified by collaborating with famous actors, dancers and folk music groups, as well as inviting composers to write contemporary music for period instruments. The goal is to create programs where different cultural expressions are mixed to form new and exciting experiences to the audience. While the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble proudly celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2021, they ambitiously continue their strive to find creative and innovative concepts to make this old repertoire stay forever young.
Elizabeth Svarstad
Baroque dance
Elizabeth Svarstad, PhD, is a dancer, choreographer, historian, and a specialist in Baroque dance. She teaches Baroque dance and historical dances at the Norwegian Music Academy and the Academy of Opera in Oslo.
Svarstad has studied Baroque dance in France, England and the USA and is Norway’s foremost specialist in baroque dance and early dance. She is a sought-after artist, and has performed in dance performances, concerts, opera productions and solo performances.
She has collaborated with choreographers, directors and artists such as Brit Ingrid Wang, Iréne Ginger, Morten Røhrt, Anne Grete Eriksen, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Kari Anne Bjerkestrand, Nasjonalballetten Ung, Torkel Braathen, Matias Rønning, Steven Player, Karin Modigh, Henriette Pedersen, Kim von Binzer, Ellen Røed and Christina Lindgren.
Performance venues include The Royal Castle in Oslo, The Norwegian Opera and Ballet, Norwegian Hub for Traditional Music and Dance (Riksscenen), The Norwegian Theater, Trøndelag Teater, Akershus Fortress, Krapperup Castle, Gammel Estrup Castle, Aarhus Concert Hall, Fredriksten Fortress, and Copenhagen City Hall.
Emma Kirkby DBE
soprano
Dame Emma Kirkby did not originally intend to become a professional singer. Initially Kirkby was going to be a schoolteacher but became increasingly involved in singing with the growing number of music ensembles that were being founded during the Early Music revival of the early 1970s.
Her vocal career developed throughout the 1970s, and she became noted as a soloist in performances and recordings with prominent early music performers, including Anthony Rooley and the Consort of Musicke, and Christopher Hogwood’s Academy of Ancient Music.
Kirkby has made over 100 recordings, including madrigals of the Italian and English Renaissance, cantatas and oratorios of the Baroque, and works of Mozart, Haydn and Johann Christian Bach. Her 1980 recording of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah conducted by Christopher Hogwood brought her international acclaim. The Messiah recording was later named one of the top 20 recordings of all time by BBC Music Magazine.
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
New commissions for period instruments, fresh interpretations of old repertoire, courageous and innovative working methods, unique concepts that engage a diverse audience – FiBO offers all this while being an influential force in the Nordic cultural scene.
Founded in 1989, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra has consolidated its position within the Finnish orchestral scene. Since its inception, FiBO has collaborated with some of the foremost soloists and concertmasters of the age and performed a wide-ranging repertoire. The focus is generally on Baroque music, but the orchestra often explores works from other periods too, from early Baroque to early Romanticism. FiBO also plays contemporary music composed for period instruments, and has commissioned several works itself.
FiBO regularly performs as orchestra in residence at the festive House of Nobility in Helsinki and tours widely across Finland. The orchestra also frequently performs at major Finnish festivals including the Helsinki Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, and the Turku Music Festival. Abroad FiBO has given performances at concert halls across Germany, Austria, Spain, East Europe and the Nordic countries.
Throughout its history, FiBO has played an important role in the emergence of the early-music movement in Northern Europe. FiBO’s exciting performances, creative programming and innovative projects have caught the attention of concert organisers both in Finland and abroad. With awards including Finnish Musical Act of the Year and Disc of the Year (Yle), FiBO continues to forge a unique path as a Baroque orchestra for the 21st century.
FiBO Records, the orchestra’s own label, has released numerous recordings, and FiBO also records for other labels, including Alpha, Ondine, Alba and BIS. These albums can be purchased from FiBO’s online store.The most recent release (from early 2021) with soloist Ilya Gringolts entitled “Il labirinto armonico” features three violin concertos by Pietro Antonio Locatelli and has received rave reviews as well as international recognition, including Gramophone Editor’s Choice (March 2021) and Diapason d’or (May 2021).
Fredrik From
violin
Fredrik, born in Hässleholm, studied at the Academy of Music in Gothenburg and at the Royal College of Music in London. He has been privileged to work with Early Music profiles such as Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Alfredo Bernardini, Alexis Kossenko, Jordi Savall and Paul Hillier, and he has toured in the US, Japan, China, Australia, Brazil and most of Europe. CD-recordings include Bach’s violin concertos and the Brandenburg concertos.
Frode Fjellheim
joik
Frode Fjellheim is a Norwegian musician living in Trondheim. In addition to playing the piano and synthesizer, he is a composer and performer of the Sámi vocal tradition, joik.
He is best known for his band Transjoik and for his 2002 song Eatnemen Vuelie, which was later adapted to become the opening musical number of the Disney movie Frozen. Fjellheim was educated as a classical piano teacher but has developed his own style as a performer and composer, combining elements from the traditional Sámi tradition with elements from classical music, jazz, pop, rock and world music.
He has released several albums both as a solo artist, with his band Transjoik, and through various collaborations. Fjellheim also heads his own music company called Vuelie, which publishes books, sheet music and CDs by several artists (www.vuelie.no). He holds a professoriate in music at Nord University, Bodø.
Among the many awards Fjellheim has received, are the Liv Ullmann award, the Norwegian equivalent to Grammy – Spellemannsprisen, and the Áillohaš Music Award, a Sámi music award conferred by the municipality of Kautokeino and the Kautokeino Sámi Association to honour the significant contributions the recipient or recipients has made to the diverse world of Sámi music.
Jadran Duncumb
lute
Norwegian/Croatian/English Jadran Duncumb focuses on solo music and chamber music for and with lutes and historical guitars.
Frequent collaborators include André Lislevand, Lina Tur Bonet, Kinga Ujszaszi, Johannes Pramsohler, Giuliano Carmignola, Giulia Semenzato, and his fortepianist brother, Emil. He is also a regular member of Barokkanerne.
His latest solo CD for Audax Records, J. S. Bach: Works for lute (Diapason d’Or, May 2021) was released in early 2021. Projects in the near future include recitals and recordings of a guitar and soprano programme with Giulia Semenzato for Alpha (Outhere) and the second volume of Bach’s suites for lute with Audax. He has been teaching lute and baroque guitar at the Scuola Civica di Milano, Italy since 2021.
Judith-Maria Blomsterberg
cello
Judith-Maria Blomsterberg is principal cellist of Concerto Copenhagen, Scandinavia’s leading Baroque Orchestra, and member of the Norwegian group Barokksolistene, famous for their innovative programs.
Furthermore, she is active as a chamber musician and tours in Sweden with the ensemble Scania Consort and Bellevue Quartet. Six years ago she founded the orchestra Eslövs Kammerorkester (EKO) and has been recently asked to join the group Odd Size. She completed her studies in 2005, with a Bachelor and Masters Degree in Baroque Cello at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague/Netherlands.
L´Arpeggiata
Since its birth, L´Arpeggiata has had the vocation of exploring the rich music of the little-known repertoire of Roman, Neapolitan and Spanish composers of the first Baroque. The ensemble has given itself as guiding principles instrumental improvisation and research on the instrumentarium in the purest Baroque tradition, as well as the creation and staging of “event” shows.
It thus promotes the meeting of music and singing with other Baroque disciplines, inseparable in their time, such as dance and theater, and an openness to various musical genres, such as jazz and traditional music.
The L´Arpeggiata brings together artists from various musical backgrounds, established on both sides of Europe and the world, around program projects, skilfully concocted by Christina Pluhar according to her musicological research, her encounters, the curiosity that drives her and her immeasurable talent. The sound of the whole, which was formed around the plucked strings, is immediately identifiable.
The ensemble regularly collaborates with outstanding soloists from both classical Baroque music as traditional music or other genres, such as jazz or flamenco, and has been performing at the biggest festivals and most prestigious theatres of Europe and around the world. The L´Arpeggiata has been hosted in residence at Carnegie Hall – New York, Wigmore Hall – London and at the Théâtre de Poissy.
In France and abroad, the L´Arpeggiata discography is unanimously and constantly praised by critics and the public. The L´Arpeggiata is supported by the Ministry of Culture – Drac Ile-de-France, the Regional Council of Ile-de-France and by the Orange Foundation. The ensemble has received support for its projects from Onda, Spedidam, Adami and Culturesfrance.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen
harpsichord
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has been artistic director of Concerto Copenhagen since 1999, and in 2004 he succeeded Roy Goodman as musical director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO).
He also works extensively as a soloist and chamber-musician in Europe, the United States, Mexico, South America, Japan and Australia, performing regularly with distinguished colleagues such as Emma Kirkby, John Holloway and Jaap ter Linden.
He studied at The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen (harpsichord with Karen Englund, figured bass with Jesper Bøje Christensen) and with Trevor Pinnock in London. From 1988 to 1990 he was harpsichordist with London Baroque and until 1993 with Collegium Musicum 90 (leader: Simon Standage). Between 1996 and 1999 Lars Ulrik Mortensen was professor for harpsichord and performance practice at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and he now teaches at numerous Early Music-courses throughout the world.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has recorded extensively for numerous labels including DGG-Archive, EMI and Kontrapunkt, and his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations was awarded the French Diapason d’Or. He has also received a number of prizes and distinctions, among them the Danish Music Critics’ Award in 1984 and Denmark’s most prestigious music award, The Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2007. In 2008 he was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Maja S. K. Ratkje
composer & musician
Maja S. K. Ratkje has been honing her singular, interconnected performing and composing styles for more than twenty years. The process has placed her at the forefront of the musical avant-garde. Despite its boldness and originality, her music is meant for sharing. At its heart lies Ratkje’s own voice, an open door to her individual musicianship and a constant tool for realigning her work with natural expressions and human truths.
Ratkje has collaborated with artists of various disciplines since the 1990s when she sang jazz, played the piano, joined a Gamelan group and co-founded the Oslo Industrial Ensemble. In 1997, she had mapped out the overtone spectrum produced by the lowest note playable on a tenor saxophone. A work based on the strongest 29 notes of the spectrum, Sinus Seduction (1997), became a foundation stone on which a series of landmark works were built under the collective title Moods.
She started working with the percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love and joined the experimental ensemble SPUNK as a vocalist, a move that would have a lasting impact on her day-to-day performing and composing. Her performances in SPUNK moved her to explore her own voice; how it might influence the act of composing and, in turn, further interact with those ideas about tone colour. In 2002 she released the album Voice, a catalogue of previously unexplored vocal production techniques fused with electronics that was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica.
In 2012 she was featured as Composer-In-Residence at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, where her work for three choirs and noise musicians Crepuscular Hour (2010) was given its UK premiere. Her music frequently involves stark contrasts, more often in the delivery of balance and kinetic action than to create shock or effect.
While many of Ratkje’s scores are notated, many stretch beyond the confines of traditional notation in aspiring to both greater precision and greater liberation. Many ask performers to improvise or produce material themselves.
Ratkje has contributed to well more than 130 albums and has written music for dance, radio plays and gallery installations. She is a ember of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, was the inaugural winner of the Arne Nordheim Prize and was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2013.
Mark Bennett
trumpet
Mark’s interest in the natural trumpet and historical performance practices were first sparked while a student at London’s Royal College of Music.
Since then he has gone on to perform and tour with some of the world’s finest period instrument ensembles, including The English Concert (where he is their principal trumpet), The English baroque Soloists and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as with some of the world’s greatest conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Simon Rattle.In that time Mark has made a wealth of recordings.
While the baroque trumpet takes up much of Mark’s time, he is no stranger to other types of music making. He has played as principal trumpet with major modern symphony orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), West End Musical orchestras (Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats in the West-End), and in over 100 films, including Shakespeare in Love and Stargate.
Now living in Oslo, Mark has established many wonderful relationships with ensembles and artists in Norway, not just as trumpeter, but also as a conductor. Specialising in informed styles of performance, whether on original or modern instruments, Mark has conducted the NRK Radio Orchestra, Barokkanerne, The Norwegian Wind Ensemble and Kongelige Norske Marines Musikkorps amongst many others. Mark plays baroque trumpets made by Matthew Martin and Norwich Natural trumpets.
Mime Brinkmann
cello
“Her phrasing sounds as natural as breathing…” The Strad.
Mime Brinkmann is an accomplished virtuoso of the cello and the viola da gamba. She received her diploma in cello performance from Tokyo’s Toho Gakuen School of Music, and earned her soloist diploma at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague as a specialist in historically informed performance practices. She won prizes at the Concorso Internazionale Romano Romanini in Brescia in 1995 and the Concours International Musica Antiqua in Bruges in 1996. Brinkmann appears with several prominent early music ensembles, such as the Bach Collegium Japan, La Petite Bande, Concerto Copenhagen, Apollo’s Fire, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Barokksolistene, Barokkanerne and the Theatre of Voices, and she has performed with them on many recordings.
In 2016, Brinkmann released an album of 17th and 18th century cello music, Cello Rising where she performed with harpsichordist Björn Gäfvert and Baroque guitarist Karl Nyhlin. Brinkmann teaches at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and she performs with the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble and the Drottningholm Slottsteater. She has recorded for the Swedish label BIS.
Mime is especially interested in creating programmes by combining music, text, dance and pantomime. Her latest work, “The Dream of Mime”, can be seen on SVT Play: https://www.svtplay.se/video/33175554/mimes-drom
Nordic Affect
The Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect has been hailed as ‘multi-disciplinary force of nature’ (A Closer Listen). In 2013 the ensemble was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize and was named Performer of the Year at the Iceland Music Awards in 2014.
Founded in 2005, Nordic was formed by a group of period instrument musicians who were united in their passion for viewing familiar musical forms from a different perspective and for daring to venture into new musical terrain. Its members have individually performed and recorded with artists and groups such as Concerto Copenhagen, The Six Tones, Anima Eterna Brugge and Björk.
Believing that music knows no boundaries, Nordic Affect has brought its music-making to contemporary and rock audiences alike and performed to critical acclaim at many international festivals.
The commissioning and performance of new works is integral to Nordic Affect’s mission as it has, from the group’s inception, combined new compositions with the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Believing that exciting things happen ‘in the connection’, Nordic Affect has through the years established exciting collaborative relationships with composers, visual artists and producers.
In addition, the group’s concert series in Reykjavík has been a platform for educational programming and presented many first performances in the country, be it of music by Telemann or 21st century composers. Their mission to spotlight women’s role in music history has led to projects such as HÚN/SHE which was broadcast by the European Broadcasting Service and the albums Clockworking and He(a)r.
Members:
Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, violin
Marie Stockmarr Becker, viola
Hanna Loftsdóttir, cello and gamba
Guðrún Óskarsdóttir, harpsichord
Pauliina Fred
traverso and recorder
Pauliina Fred is a specialist in historical flutes and their performance practice. Her field of expertise stretches from Renaissance recorders to the transverse flute of the Romantic era.
Pauliina is a regular of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Nivalis Orchestra (Norway) and Barokkanerne. She is also a member of the recorder quartet Bravade and Bellman Trio. In the years 2018-21, she worked as artistic planner for the Finnish Baroque Orchestra.
Fred has performed as soloist at many European and Asian festivals and concert series, including Musica Antiqua Bruges, Mozartfest Würzburg, Tongyeong International Music Festival, Kölner Philharmonie, as well as in chamber music and orchestral music in Finland and in most European countries, as well as Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Peru and USA.
Pauliina Fred’s playing can be heard in albums on Naxos, Aeolus, Pilfink, BIS, Fuga and FiboRecords. Pauliina launched the concert series Café Barock in Helsinki in 2010 and worked as artistic coordinator for the series 2010-12. She has planned and performed more than 400 concerts for children across the whole of Finland and Norway.
Pauliina has taught children, adults and seniors, professional and amateur flautists in various music schools and summer courses in Finland and Norway since 1995.
Since 2015, she has directed the Senior Baroque Ensemble for the elderly. She has had classes at the Sibelius Academy and the Helsinki Conservatory.
Petteri Pitko
harpsichord
Harpsichordist Petteri Pitko is the artistic director of the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (www.fibo.fi) and performs regularly with various ensembles in Finland and abroad. He is a senior lecturer in Early Music at Novia University of Applied Sciences in Jakobstad, Finland.
As a soloist, Petteri Pitko has performed with renowned orchestras, such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. He has played at several European music festivals, in China, Korea and the Canary Islands. He has worked as an orchestral musician and continuo player for numerous ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Ensemble Resonanz in Hamburg, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, Peter Rundel, Beat Furrer, Fabio Biondi, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Justin Doyle, Nathalie Stutzmann, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, and Sakari Oramo.
His diverse repertoire extends from the early baroque to 21st-century music. One of his main interests is in New Music for harpsichord, and he has given several world premieres of chamber and solo works by composers such as Misato Mochizuki, Sarah Nemtsov, Perttu Haapanen, Sebastian Fagerlund, and Jyrki Linjama.
Petteri Pitko studied harpsichord at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, with Huguette Dreyfus in Paris and with Mitzi Meyerson at the University of Arts in Berlin, from which he graduated with Honours.
“Harpsichord created magical images. – Pitko combined in his concert early and new music in a fascinating way. The sound of his harpsichord was the most colourful, profound, expressive, and resonating in the dance pieces of François Couperin, where the composer shows his ability to create magic illusions.”
– Helsingin Sanomat
“Among the highlights of my visit [in Kuhmo] were (…) a perky performance of Beethoven’s absurdly exuberant Andante and Variations for mandolin and harpsichord given by Ugo Orlandi and Petteri Pitko.”
– The Irish Times
Per Arne Glorvigen
bandoneon
The Norwegian musician and composer Per Arne Glorvigen is particularly known as a bandoneon and tango player. He is mentioned as one of the world’s leading contemporary bandoneon players and “wizard of the buttons” (The Times).
He studied with Juan José Mosalini in France. In France he appeared with France Gall and Amelita Baltar. From 1994 he worked with Gidon Kremer, and they formed the Astor-Quartet with Vadim Sakharov (piano) and Alois Pusch (double bass). With Kremer he recorded 4 CDs the first named “Hommage à Piazzolla.” Glorvigen has performed with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Alban Berg Quartett. He has adapted organ music by J.S. Bach to the bandoneon.
The first CD with Glorvigen’s own compositions was released in 2019 with the cellist Andreas Brantelid and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
Glorvigen was named Artist in Residence at the Bergen International Festival 2006. Henrik Hellstenius’ concerto for Glorvigen’s bandoneon was first performed with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. Willem Jeths also dedicated a bandoneon concerto to him.
Rolf Lislevand
lute
The Norwegian lutenist Rolf Lislevand has travelled across the USA and Europe as soloist and accompanist for decades.
He studied in Oslo and later at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with Hopkinson Smith and Eugène Dombois.
Since 1987, Rolf Lislevand has been living in Verona, Italy, reconstructing an authentic way of performing Italian music from the first half of the 17th century. Living in close contact with an old civilization which was always as attentive to modernism as tradition, he strives for a combination of intuition and research to guide him towards a comprehensive concept of style and aesthetics of Baroque music.
Today he has been professor at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen for almost 30 years, and he also has an international reputation as a teacher at summer schools.
He has a major contract with the French label Astrée for which he has already completed an award-winning CD of the music of Kapsberger, the complete works for lute by Vivaldi, and Baroque guitar works by Sanz and Santa Cruz.
Stefan Herheim
stage director
Norwegian director Stefan Herheim began directing operas with his own puppet theatre aged six.
He studied cello while working as a production assistant at Norwegian National Opera, where his father played in the orchestra. He established an opera puppet company that toured Norway and went on to study stage direction with Götz Friedrich at Hamburg University of Music and the Performing Arts.
He made his Royal Opera debut in 2013, directing The Royal Opera’s first production of Les Vêpres siciliennes and has since participated in numerous award-winning productions. Herheim’s many awards include the 2003 Götz Friedrich Foundation Prize for Opera Production for his production of I puritani (Essen). He was named stage director of the year by Opernwelt in 2006, 2008 and 2010. He has taught as a visiting lecturer at several European academies. Herheim is today Artistic Director of Theater an der Wien.
Thomas Boysen
lute
Thomas C. Boysen was born in Oslo, Norway into a family of musicians. He studied classical guitar and lute at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. After achieving his diploma there in 1995, he went to Germany to study with Prof. Rolf Lislevand at the State Academy of Music in Trossingen.
Since finishing his studies, Thomas C. Boysen has established himself as an accomplished soloist and Continuo player and has among others been working with Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Collegium Vocale – Gent, Armonico Tributo Austria, Le Poème Harmonique, Akademie für Alte Musik – Berlin, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Emma Kirkby, Rolf Lislevand and Paolo Pandolfo. He has played concerts in most European countries, USA, Hong-Kong, Mexico, South-Korea, Colombia and Cuba and participated on more than 60 CD recordings on labels like Glossa, Naive, Sony, Harmonica Mundi and K617.
He has been teaching summer courses and master classes in Germany, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, USA and Norway and is teaching lute at the state academy of music in Munich, Germany
Tina Margareta Nilsen
Timani
Tina is the founder of the Musicians’ Health and Movement Institute (MHMI), the author of “Unleashing the potential of the musician’s body” and the creator of the movement system Timani, which develops a deep understanding of the body to support musical technique and performance.
Tineke Steenbrink
harpsichord
Tineke Steenbrink is co-founder of Holland Baroque.
Tore Johansen
trumpet
Tore Johansen is a versatile trumpeter who has worked with musicians such as Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, Karin Krog and John Surman, John Taylor, Hal Galper, Egil Kapstad, Lars Jansson, Jon Balke, Jan Gunnar Hoff, Bugge Wesseltoft, Elin Rosseland, Arild Andersen, Anders Jormin, Andy Sheppard and Knut Riisnæs to name a few.
He has played in the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with Chick Corea and Erlend Skomsvoll and on other projects with Bendik Hofset, Eirik Hegdal and New York Voices.
Tore Johansen is also happy to work with Norwegian Pop/Rock artists and singer/songwriters such as Halvdan Sivertsen, Espen Lind, Terje Nilsen, Lars Bremnes, Ola Bremnes, Tonje Unstad, Maria Solheim, Sondre Justad, Ravi, Kråkesølv and Tungtvann.
He is associate professor in Jazz studies at the University of Stavanger, and also spends time composing and arranging music for choirs, big bands and orchestras. In 2005 he received the Stubø award.
Tuuli Lindeberg
soprano
Soprano Tuuli Lindeberg is one of the leading performers of Baroque and contemporary vocal music in Finland
She collaborates regularly with the best chamber orchestras and Baroque music ensembles in her native country, appearing frequently as a soloist in oratorios, choral works and in concert recitals. She is a regular guest soloist of numerous Finnish music festivals and performs regularly on national radio and TV in concerts and other music programs.
Tuuli Lindeberg collaborates regularly with young Finnish composers and has premiered several vocal works written for her voice. She holds a master’s degree in solo voice from The Sibelius Academy, and in 2021 she became the new Artistic Director of Musica Nova.
Victoria Bomann-Larsen
stage director
Victoria Bomann-Larsen works as a stage director at the Norwegian Opera & Ballet and has since 2016 been associated with the Oslo Opera Academy as a director, teacher and supervisor
She started her career as a directing assistant at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg in 2006, where she also made her directing debut with the children’s opera ”Der unglaubliche Spotz” in 2009. In 2010, she had her first engagement with Norwegian Opera and got her employment in 2013. She has assisted around a large number of directors in numerous productions and has restaged a number of large productions by internationally renowned directors like Christof Loy, Tatjana Gürbaca, Calixto Bieito and others.
At the Norwegian Opera she has also staged several performances and concerts, most recently Mahler’s ”Das Lied von der Erde”. She also works for other companies, like the Trondheim Opera, staging Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle”, ”La Rondine” for Lidal North and ”Cosi fan tutte” at KHiO (Oslo National Academy of the Arts).
In 2012, Victoria took part in starting the company Femte Rad Produksjoner, which initiated and arranged the youth opera ”Simon” by Gerhard Stäbler and Christopher Grøndahl. It premiered at the Norwegian Opera in 2015.
Vincenzo Capezzuto
alto
Born in Salermo, Vincenzo Capezzuto studied classical dance at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and worked from 2005 to 2011 as a solo dancer in the Italian dance company Aterbaletto. In 2009, he was discovered as a singer by Christina Pluhar.
Consequently, he worked with her and the ensemble L’Arpeggiata on the albums Via Crucis (2010), Los Pajaros Perdidos (2012), Mediterraneo (2013) and Music for a while (2014).
With the ensemble he has performed at many international festivals, such as Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspielen, the Hong-Kong Festival and the Dresdner Musikfestspielen, as well as in venues like the Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London.
He has also worked with more genre transcending projects, like the art project Soqquadro Italiano, in collaboration with director Claudio Borggiani, which took him to the Venetian Biennale. In 2013 he recorded Baroque Venetian gondola songs with the orchestra Pomo d’Oro (Riccardo Minasi), which was published with the book Gondola by Donna Leon.
