Henning Kraggerud Biographyby IMG Artists - IMG Artistsimgartists.com

Henning Kraggerud

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is an artist of exquisite musicianship, who combines anunusually sweet tone and beauty of expression with impressive virtuosity, drawing audiences and criticsalike towards the genuine quality of his playing.

Henning is co-Artistic Director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music, a post he took over from LeifOve Andsnes in 2011. From September 2012, Henning is Artistic Director of the Tromsø ChamberOrchestra.

In February 2012, Henning stepped in at late notice to perform two concertos with the PhilharmoniaOrchestra under Vasily Petrenko. These performances, including London’s Royal Festival Hall,represented Henning’s debut with the orchestra and earned him 5-star praise in the national press.

Highlights of the current season include returns to the London Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras, anddebuts with the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and Poznan Philharmonic under Christopher Hogwood.Henning also returns to the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and to the Orchestre NationalBordeaux-Aquitaine at the special invitation of Kwamé Ryan, to celebrate the opening of the city’s newhall.

Future plans for Henning include returns to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, RTE National Symphonyand an invitation to Copenhagen with the Danish National Symphony after Henning’s critically acclaimedperformance with the orchestra at London’s BBC Proms. Henning will also make his debuts with theNuremberg Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Taiwan National Symphony.

A favourite with audiences in the US and Canada, Henning has worked with the Detroit Symphony underPeter Oundjian and the Seattle Symphony under Vassily Sinaisky, as well as the Baltimore, Atlanta andToronto Symphony orchestras. Last season he performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and as soloistand conductor with both the Pacific and Vancouver Symphony orchestras. In Summer 2012, Henningmakes his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

The play/directing element of Henning’s career is fast developing as he proves his exceptional talent inthis role. In 2009, he stepped in at late notice to play/direct the Britten Sinfonia at the City of LondonFestival; such was his success that he undertakes his third major international tour with the ensemble thisseason. Other play/direct performances have included the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the OrpheusChamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall where Henning was hailed by the New York Times for his “sweet,polished sound” and the “melting beauty” of his playing. This season, Henning works as guest directorwith the Basel Chamber Orchestra and has also been invited in this capacity to the Vienna ChamberOrchestra.

With a strong Scandinavian profile, Henning continues to work extensively in his home region, includingrecent concerts with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra with JukkaPekka Saraste. He has maintained frequent collaborations with the Helsinki and Oslo Philharmonic andthe Norwegian chamber orchestras, as well as strong links with many of the Norwegian festivals.

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Henning Kraggerud Biographyby IMG Artists - IMG Artistsimgartists.com

With his strong commitment to chamber music, Henning performs both on violin and viola at the majorinternational festivals; recent collaborations have included a ‘Szymanowski Focus’ at London’s WigmoreHall and New York’s Zankel Hall curated by Piotr Anderszewski, and performances at the VerbierFestival with Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos and Martha Argerich. Last season, Henning appeared at theHong Kong International Chamber Music Festival and the Seoul Spring Festival among others. Thisseason he joins musical colleagues at the Rio International Chamber Music Week in Brazil and theStavanger International Chamber Music Festival. Along with Imogen Cooper and Adrian Brendel heappears at LSO St Luke’s in the BBC’s chamber concert series.

Last season saw Henning’s recital debut in Tokyo, where he played the complete unaccompanied ViolinSonatas by Ysaÿe; a performance he repeated at the Cheltenham Festival in July 2012. Henning hasrecorded all these works for Simax for which he received the prestigious Spellemann CD award.Adding to his multi-faceted career, Henning is an innovative improviser and composer, performing manyof his own cadenzas and arrangements in concert, and several of his compositions have been performed atfestivals worldwide.

In June 2010, Henning gave the first performance of the Munch Suite for Solo Violin – a new and uniqueconcert project consisting of new pieces by fifteen composers from around the world. Taking place at theHaugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum in Tønsberg, Norway, as part of the Vestfold International Festival, thesepieces were inspired by the works of Edvard Munch and were performed in dialogue with the paintingsthemselves at an exclusive arts experience.

Henning’s most recent disc, released in June 2012, is entitled “Last Spring”, a unique collaboration on theACT label with Norwegian jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft, exploring improvisations on Norwegian folkmusic with classical and jazz elements. In addition to an impressive and diverse discography, Henningwas involved in making a major television and cinema documentary about the Norwegian violin virtuosoand composer, Ole Bull (1810-1880), released in November 2006 and more recently as an Englishlanguage version. Henning received the Ole Bull Prize in 2007.

Born in Oslo in 1973, Henning studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz. He is a recipient ofNorway's prestigious Grieg Prize and in 2007 was awarded the Sibelius Prize for his interpretations andrecording of Sibelius’ music throughout the world. Henning is a Professor at the Barratt-Due musicconservatoire in Oslo, and in April 2012 was a jury member at the Menuhin Competition in Beijing.

Henning Kraggerud plays on a 1744 Guarneri del Gesu, provided by Dextra Musica AS. This company isfounded by Sparebankstiftelsen DnB NOR.

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