Kalevi Olli
Kalevi Olli is a renowned concert and oratorio baritone who has concertized throughout Europe. He was born in Finland in 1951 where he received his early training. He gained renown as a singer in his native Finland through concerts and competitions. Later, in 1978, he was engaged by the Frankfurt Opera House in Frankfurt, Germany, where he continued his career as well as his voice training with K.H.Jarius. Mr. Olli's musical breakthrough came after winning the International Genfer Muslkwettbewerb Competition in 1981. He continues to concertize throughout Europe and records as well.
Ulrich
Koneffke
Ulrich
Koneffke, who was born in Darmstadt, Germany, in 1957, had
a very diverse musical education during his youth, but serious
study of the piano began in 1977 with professor Leonard
Hokanson in Frankfurt. After completing his studies, he
began his career as pianist with the Grüneburg Trio. The
Trio won several national and international competitions,
including theARD-Wettbewerb Competition in 1981 and this
resulted in many concert engagements for them. Mr. Koneffke
has been the accompanist for Kalevi Olli during his concert
tours.
Ingrid
Bjoner
Ingrid
Bjoner, who was born on November 8, 1928 in Kraakstad, Norway,
studied to be a pharmacist at the University of Oslo where
she took and passed her exam in this field. She did not,
however, pursue this as a career choosing instead to study
voice with Gudrun Boellemose in Oslo. A concert which she
gave in 1951 at the Oslo Cathedral gave her some excellent
reviews and helped launch her career. Voice studies continued
in Frankfurt, Germany, under the tutelage of Paul Lohmann
at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. Her later studies included
those with Franziska Mattienseen-Lohmann in Dusseldorf,
Germany.
Ms. Bjoner gave her New York
City debut in 1957 at the Wuppertal Opera House where she
sang the part of Donna Anna in Mozart's "Don Giovanni".
In her native Norway she continued to sing operatic roles
including one of the three Norns and Gutrune in Wagner's
"Götterdämmerung" in which she appeared with Kirsten Flagstad.
Her performances led to an engagement with the Oslo Opera.
Shortly thereafter, she moved to Germany where her career
as an opera singer continued. Performances followed at the
State Opera of Vienna, Austria, as well as Hamburg, Germany.
She also sang at Covent Garden in London, England, and with
the San Francisco Opera in San Francisco, California. In
1960 Ms.Bjoner sang the roles of Freia and Gutrune in the
Wagnerian Festival held in Bayreuth, Germany.
1961 saw her join the State
Opera in Munich where she sang the role of the empress in
Richard Wagner's opera "Die frau ohne Schatten", which was
the opera chosen to open the newly-rebuilt opera house.
Other performances include the role of Isolde in Wagner's
"Tristan und Isolde" at the Centennial Festival in Bayreuth.
From 1962 to 1967 Ms. Bjoner
was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where
she sang a variety of operatic roles. Engagements followed
at Covent Garden in London, England, at the opera in Warsaw,
Poland, and in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1970, at
the Staedtische Opera in Berlin, Germany, and the Staatsoper
in Stuttgart, Germany. Ms. Bjoner is currently on the faculty
of the Copenhagen Opera Academy and in 2001 she will serve
on the jury of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition.
Ms. Bjoner has been given the Order of St. Olav by King
Olav V of Norway (1964)..
EINAR STEEN-NÖKLEBERG
Nökleberg, born in Norway in 1944, studied piano with Nicolai Dirdal and Hans Leygraf as well as clavichord with Lajos Rovatkay with whom he specialized in the interpretation of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Winner of both Scandinavian and international competitions, he has given concerts throughout Germany
In 1975 he was given a chair at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany. He now teaches at the music conservatory in Oslo, Norway. Mr. Steen-Nökleberg has concertized throughout Europe and the former USSR, the USA, South America and Japan as well as other countries in the Orient.
Mr. Steen-Nökleberg is in
demand as a teacher and jurist at piano competitions such
as the Gina Bachaer International Piano Competition and
the Grieg International Piano Competition. He’s also the
President of the European Piano Teachers Association for
2001.
Renowned for his interpretations
of the music of Grieg, Mr. Steen-Nökleberg recently published
the book Onstage with Grieg and is editor of the new Henle
edition of the complete Grieg piano works, all of which
he has recorded on the Naxos label.
“I am a relative newcomer
to BriosoRecordings®... yesterday I got BR 100. This is
a truly revelatory performance of the Beethoven cello sonatas...
Metzmacher is to the cello what Backhaus was to the piano.
Rock solid, very musical, deeply humane. I knew Steen-Nokleberg
from his series of Grieg's piano works on Naxos, and he
is once again in top form here. This goes right to the top,
alongside Piatigorsky/ Solomon.”
Greg Weis, Associate Professor of Philosophy, USC Aiken
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