Grappa musikkforlag Terje Mikkelsen

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Terje Mikkelsen

Biography

Terje Mikkelsen"s conducting has been described by reviewers as "immensely compelling and dramatically powerful" and his control of sound, balance and textures as "masterly". Mikkelsen graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music, and then he studied and received his diploma in orchestral conducting from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where his teacher was the famous professor Jorma Panula. From 1985 he studied and had a close collaboration with Mariss Jansons both in Oslo and St. Petersburg, and then Mikkelsen embarked on a musical journey conducting orchestras throughout the Eastern and Central Europe, Japan, China and Thailand.

Among his musical posts were such positions as: Chief Conductor and Music Director for Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, and consecutively: Music Director and Chief Conductor of Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, GDM of Thuringen Philharmonie,and visiting professor at the college of music of Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Mikkelsen has a large CD production with several orchestras such as Latvian National Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Thuringen Philharmonie, Ukrainian National orchestra, Lithuanian National Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In total this has resulted in more than 40 recordings.

During Mikkelsen"s collaboration with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra he conducted more than 70 concerts with them outside Latvia; in Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Germany the Netherlands, Spain and Thailand. With this orchestra alone, he has issued more than 20 CD recordings. In 2009 Mikkelsen and the LNSO released two CDs of Norwegian music which received enthusiastic reviews from all over the world.

Terje Mikkelsen appears regularly with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Moscow Radio Orchestra, and has conducted a host of renowned orchestras. Mikkelsen has conducted in most of the important halls in Europe, including the Berliner Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Munich am Gasteig, Alte Oper (Frankfurt am Main), Cologne Philharmonie, Auditorium National (Madrid) and many more. In 2006, he was appointed Principal Conductor of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until 2009. Terje Mikkelsen has collaborated with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio since 1993, and was appointed the orchestra"s Principal Guest Conductor in 2008.

In 2010 he toured Spain with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, in June he took the Tchaikovsky orchestra to Norway, and in October he toured the UK with the same orchestra, performing a total of 15 concerts to packed concert halls with enthusiastic audiences. In 2011 Mikkelsen followed up with a new UK tour, this time with the Czech National Symphony orchestra as well as recording 2 CDs with the Munich Radio Orchestra. Together with the Munich orchestra he will tour Spain in November 2011.

August 2011

Terje Mikkelsen

Discography

Finn Mortensen: Per Orchestra

18.11.2011

Terje Mikkelsen undoubtedly has a certain sense for bringing great, unknown music to his listeners. He was the first to record Grieg' symphony, and has recently released premiere recordings by composers including Svendsen, Halvorsen, Alnæs and Tellefsen. As the second recording in a close co-operation together with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Mikkelsen is releasing the highly rewarding and rich orchestral works of Finn Mortensen.
Johan Halvorsen: Stage music, vol 1

11.11.1999

Terje Mikkelsen and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra takes us back to the Norwegian National Theatre's golden age, and shows us the musical treasures of the foremost composer of dramatic music: Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935).

For 20 years, until 1919, Johan Halvorsen conducted Norway's largest professional Symphony Orchestra at the Norwegian National Theatre. Among his approximately 170 compositions, theater music therefore takes a great place. The disc contains three suites of music that Halvorsen wrote to the productions of Gurre, Askeladden and the merchant of Venice, and is the only recording that exists of these suites, which, despite much praise from contemporary music critics are little known today.

With thematic ingenuity, spicy details, dramatic effects and exotic moods Halvorsen's music leads us through the legendary love story Gurre, and Shakespeare drama The Merchant of Venice. The suite Askeladden stylistically spans a wide field that in many ways be said to sum up Halvorsen's long career as the leading composer of incidental music for almost any occasion.
Johan Halvorsen: Stage music, vol. 2

25.11.1999

Terje Mikkelsen and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra takes us back to the Norwegian National Theatre's golden age, and shows us the musical treasures of the foremost composer of dramatic music in Norway: Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935). For 20 years, until 1919, Halvorsen conducted Norway's largest professional symphony orchestra at the Norwegian National Theatre. Among his approximately 170 compositions, theater music therefore takes a great place.

Vasantasena, which is an Indian drama attributed to King Sudarka who lived on 300's, inspired Halvorsen to create music with an exotic accent, a project that was not exactly typical of a Norwegian composer at the turn of the century. The music was spiced with oriental-inspired instruments that particular scale types, ornaments, rhythm instruments and rare instrument and sound combinations.

Tordenskjold is a historic play, and the suite has three movements of very different character - a baroque-inspired movement Rigaudon, the explosive war march Tordenskjold goes into Action, and a heavy Funeral March. In the elaborate drama The King by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Halvorsen is inspired by Wagner's music drama in the first movement Symphonic Intermezzo. Of an entirely different character is Hyrdepigernes dance, and finally Elegy that "swell of beautiful designs and euphony" as it was described in a local paper after the first performance.
Thomas D. A. Tellefsen: The Piano Concertos

21.11.2005

Reviving the name of piano virtuoso and composer Thomas Tellefsen, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg follows his recent acclaimed recording of the chamber music here with two splendid piano concertos. Tellefsen, being the colleague of Chopin in Paris, wrote music in the great romantic tradition, and Nøkleberg is just the man to make these notes into the most beautiful music.