NORDIC VIOLASYMPOSIUM 09

STOCKHOLM 9-11 OCT Kungl. Musikhögskolan

NORDIC VIOLASYMPOSIUM

STOCKHOLM 9-11 OCT Kungl. Musikhögskolan

PROGRAM

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CONTENTPROGRAM.........................................................6

COMPOSERES AND WORKS.............................9

ARTISTS...........................................................16

INSTRUMENT AND BOW MAKERS................22

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Welcome to the first Nordic Viola Symposium, proudly presented by the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Nordic Viola Society.

This will be a unique tribute to the viola, bringing violists together in order to foster dialogue and communication. It is with great pleasure we present such distinguished soloists, teachers and luthiers, representing all the Nordic countries, as well as the USA, and Lithuania. I hope this will inspire violists in our part of the world to further explore and spread knowledge of the wonderful world of the viola.

Henrik Frendin President of the Nordic Viola Society Chair of Strings, Stockholm Royal College of Music

TO ALL FRIENDS OF THE VIOLA...

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The entire Symposium takes place at Kungl. Musikhögskolan i Stockholm, KMH (the Royal College of Music in Stockholm), Valhallavägen 105.

Friday October 9

17.00 Registration at KMH (stora salen)

19.00 OPENING CONCERT - a tribute to the nordic viola (stora salen)

Henrik Frisk DRIVE - for electric viola grande & computer Henrik Frendin - electric viola grande Henrik Frisk - computer Paavo Heininen SONAT FOR SOLO VIOLA Jouko Mansnerus - viola

Thordur Magnusson SONAT FOR VIOLA & PIANO Helga Þórarinsdóttir – viola Dagny Björgvinsdóttir - piano

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Anders Nordentoft MUSIC FOR VIOLA SOLO & PIANO - I bakke og dal Tim Frederiksen - viola

Arnljot Kjeldaas SONATA QUASI FANTASIA FOR VIOLA & PIANO Morten Carlsen –viola Jorunn Marie Bratlie - Piano

Anders Hillborg MUSIK FÖR 10 ALTFIOLE (1987) Viola class of Henrik Frendin: Carolina Eyck, Hanna Ekström, Victor Olausson, Sara Munthers, Erika Sandström, Anna Manell, Sophie Bretschneider, Milda Zigure, Sigrid Kroeker, Bendik Goldstein Torbjörn Helander - conductor

21.30 ”Bratsche Bar” at the Mornington hotel

PROGRAMME

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Saturday October 10

09.30 Introduction to the International Viola Society, by executive secretary Max Savikangas (lilla salen)

10.00 Master class - Petras Radzevičius, Lithuania (stora salen)

12.30 Lunch break

13.30 Instrument and bow makers presentation (room 399) Joakim Amundin Paul Barter Backa Mikael Eriksson Stefan Hansen Tommy Jakobsson Per Klinga Stefan Lindholm Sebastian Skarp Peter Westerlund

14.30 Coffee break

15.00 Instrument and bow makers presentation – continued

16.00 Festive Concert featuring soloists Atar Arad and Carolina Eyck, appea- ring with Peter Berlind Carlson, Bartosz Cajler, Ola Karlsson and KMH Chamber Orchestra (stora salen)

Daniel Nelson ROMANTATRONIC for solo viola, strings & perc. (2000) Carolina Eyck – viola, KMH Chamber Orchestra, Michael Bartosch - conductor

Niccolo Paganini QUARTET no 15 for viola concertante, violin, cello and guitar Bartosz Cajler – violin, Ola Karlsson – Cello, Peter Berlind Carlson - guitar

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Atar Arad CONCERTO per la viola (2005) Allegro – Aria su Due Corde – Capriccio – Rapsodia all Bulgaria Atar Arad – viola, KMH Chamber Orchestra, Michael Bartosch - conductor

19.00 Official NVS dinner followed by ”Bratsche Party” at KMH (ljusgården)

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Sunday October 11

09.00 Annual meeting of the Nordic Viola Society (lilla salen)

10.00 Master class - Atar Arad, USA (stora salen)

12.15 Lunch break

13.00 THE ART OF PRACTISE - Panel discussion, questions from participants Panel: Atar Arad & representatives from Nordic countries (stora salen)

13.30 FINAL CONCERT - The viola section of the Royal Opera Orchestra plays multi viola pieces (stora salen)

Various composers RUSSIAN SUITE (anonymous arr. from S:t Petersburg)

Otto Freudenthal PIECE for 8 violas

Luigi Cherubini DOUBLE FUGUE for 4 violas

Gordon Jacob SUITE for 8 violas

Errol Garner MISTY (arr. Petter Carlsson) The viola section of the Royal Opera Orchestra Håkan Olsson – leader

14.30 Farewell

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Henrik FriskSince his birth in 1969 in Antibes, France, Henrik Frisk has lived and studied in Sweden, Denmark, France, USA and Canada. After having pursued a career in jazz in the nineties with performances at the Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, NYC and Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, he is now spending most of his time composing and play-ing contemporary music with a recent interest in sound installation and sound art. He has worked with musicians and artists such as David Liebman, Gary Thomas, Michael Formanek, Richie Beirach, Jim Black, James Tenney, Luca Francesconi, Cort Lippe and others. Henrik Frisk is also a renowned teacher and managed the Performers Department for Jazz and Improvised music at the Malmš Academy of Music for five years (1999-2004).

DRIVE

The title, ’Drive’, refers to the non-linear format of the score. The instructions in the score are laid out along a circle with reference to a map in which one can move from any point to any other point at any moment. Although the piece is composed as to be played clockwise from 12 to 12, the player may choose to take another path through the material. Taking another route will affect the computer part. The harmony and the melodic fragments are built around a six note chord in which every note gravi-tates towards the center of the chord, a quarter of a semi tone raised B natural. This harmonic glissando is continous throughout the piece and results in microtonal varia-tions of the original harmony. It is heard as a harmonic shadow cast by the computer behind the viola. At five consecutive points in the score the harmony is ’sampled’ and the harmonic overtones from these discrete chords gives the pitches for the four virtual resonant strings in the computer part. The third computer voice is a bass note, sampled from the very first note as played by the viola, D natural, and making a glis-sando up a perfect fourth. The C string of the viola is tuned down a minor seventh.

Paavo HeininenPaavo Heininen (born 13 January 1938 in Helsinki) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen. He continued his studies in Cologne and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Heininen is one of the most important Finnish modernist composers. His works can be roughly divided into two periods: dodecaphonic (c. 1957–1975) and postserialist (from 1976 onwards).

COMPOSERS AND WORKS

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Paavo Heininen has taught composition at the Sibelius Academy. His pupils include Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho.

Heininen’s main works include five symphonies, four piano concertos, a concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, Adagio (”a concerto for an orchestra in the form of variations”), Poesia squillante ed incan-descente, a string quintet, ...tyttöjen kävely ruusulehdossa... for string orchestra, and the operas The Knife (1985–1988) and The Damask Drum (1981–1983).

Thordur MagnussonConsidered one of Iceland´s preeminent composer, Thordur Magnusson has been nominated for the Nordic Councils Music Prize 2004, won the Icelandic Music Awards prize, best classical piece of the year for his first Symphony in 2004, nominated for the best classical piece of the year for his Piano Trio 2003.

Thordur MAGNUSSON belongs to the younger generation of Icelandic compo-sers. In 1996 he took his degree in composition at the Reykjav’k College of Music, where he had studied with Gudmundur Hafsteinsson. He was then admitted to the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In connection with his stay in Paris he studied with among others Emanuel Nunes. Since coming back to Iceland Magnusson has written a number of works that have aroused some attention, and which have been performed by ensembles like CAPUT, Trio Nordica, Icelandic Symphonic Orchestra, KaSa and the Ethos String Quartet.

Anders NordentoftAnders Nordentoft studied composition with Hans Abrahamsen and Ib Nørholm at the Royal Danish Academy Music in Copenhagen. Early works, such as Entgegen (1985) for chamber orchestra were concerned with juxtaposing oppo-sing elements. However by the 1990s he had developed a more lyrical, melodic style, through which he sought out a more harmonious middle-ground that, in the composer’s own words, ‘explores the moderate but also expressive and infinitely faceted universe of friendship’. This aesthetic is evident in works such as The City of Threads (1994), Hymne (1996) and the cello concerto Sweet Kindness (1996).

Arnljot KjeldaasSonata quasi fantasia was written during the 2nd world war by the Norwegian composer Arnljot Kjeldaas (1916-97). It is a rich and colorful piece in late romantic style. Kjeldaas’ music has not met with much interest, probably because he used a musical idiom which was regarded as old-fashioned. His large oeuvre includes a lot of church and organ music, songs and piano pieces. He also wrote for the violin and the cello, for viola and piano there exists a charming little Berceuse.

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Anders HillborgAnders Hillborg gained his first musical experience singing in choirs and he was also involved in various forms of improvised music. From 1976 to 1982 he studied counterpoint, composition and electronic music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where his teachers included Gunnar Bucht, Lars-Erik Rosell, Arne Mellnäs and Pär Lindgren. Brian Ferneyhough, who was a guest lecturer at the College of Music on several occasions, was also an important source of inspiration.

Apart from occasional teaching positions Hillborg has been a full-time freelance composer since 1982. His sphere of activity is extensive, covering orchestral, cho-ral and chamber music as well as music for films and pop music.

Anders Hillborg’s orchestral music has been performed by many major conduc-tors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel, David Zinman, Andrey Boreyko, Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Michael Gielen, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, John Storgårds and many others.

Orchestras that has performed his music include Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Bayerishe Rundfunk Orchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonie, Helsinki Philharmonic.

He has received commissions from leading performing organisations such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zürich, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony. Other notable musicians he’s worked with include clarinetist Martin Fröst, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, choir conductor Eric Ericson..

Daniel NelsonThe composer Daniel Nelson has been inspired by modern American tradition, i.e. John Adams and the more underground-like musician/composer group Banf-on-a-can. He has also let himself be influenced by a completely different vein of composers represented by Kancheli and Silvestrov – a music that generally has a consonant sound but not necessarily tonal. In Romantatronic for viola and orchestra, Daniel Nelson plays with the DJ culture and its way of creating billo-wing rhythmical patterns set against a regular pulse. He alternates between let-ting the viola part integrate into the orchestral surroundings or act as a soloist.

Matti Edén, transl. Isabel Thomson. From CD booklet Phono Suecia PSCD 151.

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ATAR ARAD CONCERTO PER LA VIOLA

My first two performances of the Viola Concerto took place last fall in Bloomington with the Indiana University School of Music Chamber Orchestra, Uriel Segal conducting, and in Brussels with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra, Ronald Zollman conducting. For a self-taught “late bloomer” composer such as myself these were far from being run of the mill events...

I know no greater pleasure than to write and play my own music. It may have taken me too long to realize that I need not be a Chopin, Paganini or Rachmaninov to do so. Instead, I needed to recognize the existence of some genuine music in my mind and find courage to put it on paper regardless of what is nowadays accepted, expected, or deemed “important” or “new”. Doing so, I was able to communicate with my inner-self and come a step closer to understan-ding who I am. By writing a few words about my concerto for this publication’s PLAY IT, I hope to encourage a few other performers to go through a similar experience. Write it – play it!

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In composing this concerto, I was driven by a desire to bring to the fore the glo-riously broad range of tone and the distinctive character of the viola. The viola is the most wistful, melancholic, inward- looking and soulful instrument. The voice of choice for elegies and laments, its repertoire is distinguished by countless sad titles such as Trauermusik, Yiskor (in memoriam), Lachrymae. It does, however, take pleasure in being gay and humoristic, brave, tough and rustic. (In his letter to Tibor Serly, Bartok, not surprisingly, speaks about the masculine sound of the viola.) Yes, the viola may be a little weighty, somewhat clumsy, but it does like to dance! And yes, it does want to show off.

Indeed, I also wanted to further explore the viola’s capabilities as a bona fide virtuoso instrument. The history of music has not been generous to violists in this respect! I wanted the viola to run as fast and jump as high as a violin. I wanted it to pirouette, to ricochet, to staccato. I wanted it to dazzle with double-stops and to sing with double harmonics. How about harmonics and normally stopped notes sounding simultaneously (kind of scary in performance, I must admit)? If only I could, I would make the viola “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”…

To prepare for the task, in 2005 I composed Six Caprices for Solo Viola, looking at some musical ideas from various technical angles. In addition to expanding my own repertoire and that of other violists as well, I wanted the Caprices to serve as sketches-etudes towards the larger scale composition. I made use of the Caprices in the first three movements of the Concerto. (The fourth movement is based on the “Alla Bulgarese” from my 1992 Solo Viola Sonata.)

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The four movements of the concerto are different in scope. The outer move-ments use the full orchestra and are quite longer than the middle ones. The first, ALLEGRO, juxtaposes the “grave” and the “brave” faces of the viola. The wri-ting is essentially contrapuntal and the dialogue between viola and orchestra is constant and extensive. At some key moments, the two clarinets lead a stubborn bittersweet little fanfare while the timpani provides the “Boleroesque” rhythms, enhancing some of the dramatic and exotic intentions I had for the movement.

ARIA su DUE CORDE uses the strings, oboe and timpani only. It is in A-B-A-B-(A) form. The slow and lyrical A sections are played on the G string of the viola. They are announced – and concluded - by bitonal chorals played by the strings. As the viola performs its melancholic melody, the oboe adds a series of sigh-like descending thirds. The lively B section is played on the A string of the viola. The strings echo the viola as well as collaborating with the timpani in providing rhyth-mical beats in odd meters. The last A section lasts two bars, allowing the viola a fraction of its theme and the oboe to gasp with a couple of last sighs.

The solo viola part of the CAPRICCIO is the exact replica of my Caprice No. 3 for viola, entitled Belà (as its ends with a wink towards Bartok’s Viola Concerto. Only here, following a slow introduction, the wild perpetual motion of the viola becomes the accompaniment for the other instruments’ scherzando-type material. This time around the strings, with the exception of the double bass, are tacit.

RAPSODIA alla BULGARA is a fantasia based on two catchy Bulgarian tunes I heard my mother sing over and over when I was a child. (My late mother would have loved to have heard Belgian musicians gleefully whistling her tunes in the corridors of Brussels Conservatory, as did I.) Rhythmically this is the most compli-cated of the four movements as, true to Bulgarian music, it extensively uses cross–rhythms in fast changing odd meters.

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At least in my mind, my music is Israeli. I left Israel at the age of 21 but much of the original music I heard growing up in the Fifties and the Sixties is still with me, an amalgam of sounds from Central and Eastern Europe, the Near and Middle East, the Maghreb and the Balkans (I grew up in a village of immigrants from Bulgaria).

Most Israeli composers working in this period (Partos, Seter, Ben Haim, to name a few) were emigrants from Europe and Russia, and many of them fled to Israel around or during the time of the Holocaust. Although trained in the European tradition, they tried to bring to their music a local flavor and sometimes based it entirely on local elements. Thus, in the melting pot that Israel was, a com-poser skilled in the art of the fugue or in dodecaphonic music would emulate Bedouin arabesques in his compositions; a Russian born composer would draw from Yemenite vocalism; a German-speaking composer (Ashkenazi) would write Ladino (Sephardic) songs. (For the record, I am both Ashkenazi and Sephardi,

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and I recognize a soft spot in my heart for Ladino music.)

They were my music teachers. They taught in Hebrew, but felt much more com-fortable speaking their native languages; German, Russian, Polish, Hungarian (Hungarian reigned in the corridors of the Israeli Academy at that time). With the passing of time, the memory of their music and their struggle to create a dis-tinctive Israeli music became more and more endearing to me. It became a main part of my longing to my childhood in Israel. My concerto reflects this. It echoes music from far away and another time in my life; music that I greatly treasure and from which I cannot escape.

Atar Arad

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Atar AradThe world famous violist Atar Arad was born in Tel Aviv.

In 1972, in his first appearance as a violist, he won the City of London Prize as a laureate of the Carl Flesch Competition for violin and viola. Two months later he was awarded the First Prize at the International Viola Competition in Geneva. This was the starting point of an amazing career bringing him to a position as one of the worlds leading violists.

In 1980 Arad moved from London to the U.S. in order to become a member of the Cleveland Quartet for the next seven years. With this great Quartet he toured extensively collaborating with many leading musicians, recording for labels such as RCA, CBS and Telarc, and appearing in music festivals all over the world. During that time he held the position of a Professor of Viola at the Eastman School of Music. He currently teaches at Indiana University, Bloomington, and at the Steans Institute in Chicago.

Arad’s recordings for Telefunken are widely acclaimed. His album in collabo-ration with pianist Evelyne Brancart, was praised by High Fidelity Magazine as being ”...perhaps the best-played viola recital ever recorded”. He has published two important essays; The Thirteen Pages (The American String Teacher, Winter 1988) dealing with the authenticity of Bartok’s Viola Concerto and Walton As Scapino (The Strad, February 1989), which reveals a number of unusual compo-sitional procedures used by William Walton in his Viola Concerto. In 1992 he wrote his first musical composition - a Solo Sonata for Viola. The Sonata was pre-miered by him in 1993 as part of Arad’s recital at the Viola Congress in Chicago. in 2005 he gave the first performance of his Concerto per la viola.

Tim FredriksenTim Frederiksen is the third generation in a family of violists.

In 1980 he was appointed principal viola in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and from 1983 to 1996 he was concert master of that orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with most Danish orchestras on both violin and viola. As primarius in the Danish String Quartet he has

ARTISTS

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given a great many recitals all over Europe and has recorded the collected string quartets by Brahms, Ib Nørholm, Carl Nielsen and Paul Hindemith - this last recor-ding has been awarded with Deutsche Schallplatten Preis 1997.

Tim Frederiksen is since 1995 professor of viola and chamber music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. In his capacity as Head of Chamber Music Tim Frederiksen coaches a number of award winning Danish ensembles.

Tim Frederiksen is highly in demand as a teacher at international and national mas-ter classes and is often invited as jury member in international music competitions.

Jouko MansnerusJouko Mansnerus is one of Finlands most prominent violists.

He has served as prinicpal in Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Since 1982 he is Senior Lecturer at the Sibelius Academy of Music, Helsinki.

He has performed as soloist and chamber musician in major parts of the world, mostly as a member of the Jean Sibelius Quartet and the Rantatie quartet. He has recorded a number of CDs and has for many years served as chairman of the Finnish Viola Society.

Morten CarlsenThe distinguished Norwegian violist Morten Carlsen was born and raised in Tromsö. After possessing leading positions in Radiosinfonieorchester Stuttgart and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, he started to teach at the Norwegian State Academy of Music where he is now Head of Strings.

He has a wide experience as soloist and chamber musi-cian, national and international, including performances with both Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

He has made an important contribution to increase the viola repertiore of his country and several Norwegian composer have dedicated pieces for him. In 2001 he released his solo CD ”Melankoli” which was well recieved in Birttish and American press. This record was followed in 2008 by a CD with Norwegian music together with pianist Jorunn Marie Bratlie.

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Helga ÞórarinsdóttirHelga Þórarinsdóttir is since many years principal violist in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

She has appeared as soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions, most recently in a viola concerto by Kjartan Ólafsson. The piece was elected

”New piece of the year” in 2001 in Iceland.

Helga is an active chamber musician, her scheddule of 2009 includes a recital program in Long Island, New York.

She has a great interest in contemporary music and has commissioned several pieces by Icelandic composers. She also teaches at Reykjavík College of Music and conducts a string orchestra with students

Petras RadzeviciusBorn 1939 in Kaunas, Lithuania, Petras Radzevicius is a legendary violist of his country.

His long career as a teacher started already in 1963 when he was appointed a position at the Lithuanian State Conservatoire. In 1987 he became professor and Head of strings at the same institution.

For a number of years he has been leading the viola section of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra touring worldwide.

He is also a frequent jury member of international string competitions such as Max Rostal International Competition, Berlin, and Jascha Heifetz International Violinists Competition, Vilnius.

Max SavikangasFor several years now, Max Savikangas has been working as a free composer, violist and lecturer. He has composed over 75 works of instrumental chamber music, vocal music, electro-acoustical music and combinations of these. His largest work so far is a 7-hour electroacoustic sound instal-lation entitled Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup (2005), which was nominated as one of the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto prise winner candidates in 2005.

In addition to composing and performing, he is also very

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interested in developing the viola - Max plays on an instrument which he has been developed in collaboration with the Finnish luthier Pekka Mikael Laine since 1998, utilising computer spectral analysis and new varnishing techniques.

In 2008 he was appointed as the executive secretary of the International Viola Society Presidency. Max is also the President of the Finnish Viola Society.

The viola section of the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra KUNGLIGA HOVKAPELLET

The members of the viola section of the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra are Robert Westlund, Karin Ahnlund, Jarl Högbom, Karin Ancker, Mikael Rydh, Maj Molander, Jakob Ruthberg, Ylva Lundén-Welden, Håkan Olsson och Torbjörn Helander and Oleg Balabine (not in picture)

Håkan Olsson is since 2004 principal violist.

Before this, he served as co-principal in the Swedish Radio Orchestra for almost 20 years. With that orchestra he premierred a viola concerto by Torbjörn Engström and also performed Mozart´s Sinfonia Concertante at an EBU-concert with conductor Manfred Honneck.

He is much in demand as a chamber musician and was a member of the Zetterkvist quartet for a number of years, resulting in many recordings and tours.

In 2005 he made a solo appearence at the International Viola Congress in Reykjavik. He is also a member of Stockholm Chamber Orchestra.

leader: Håkan Olsson

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Henrik FrendinHenrik Frendin is known as one of the most versatile and progressive string players of the Swedish music scene. His artistical output covers a wide range of musical genres from classical to contemporary electro-acoustical, and modern jazz.

He has served as principal in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and in the European Union Chamber Orchestra.

He has appeared as soloist with several of the Swedish orchestras as well as the European Union Chamber Orchestra and has toured extensively in most of the European countries, Asia, North- and South America. He has also been invited to perform as solo artist and given lectures at the International Viola Congresses in Wellington, New Zeeland, Kronberg, Germany and Montreal, Canada.

In 1990 he started to teach at the Malmö Academy of Music. Since 2007 he is Senior Lecturer and Chair of Strings at the department of Classical Music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH). He has given several international master classes, including the Guildhall School of Music in London, University of Californa Santa Barbara, Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and National Music Academy of Mexico City amongst others.

Michael BartoschMichael Bartosch was born in 1965 and received his musical education (violin and conducting) at the Music College of his native Malmö, and at KMH in Stockholm. In 1996 he was awarded second prize in a conducting competition organized by the Royal Opera in Stockholm. He has since then conducted several productions in this house, including several performances of Wozzeck.

He has conducted at the Komische Oper in Berlin, the Gothenburg Opera, the Malmö Opera, Norrlandsoperan,

Värmlandsoperan and at the Vadstena Academy. At Folkoperan (Stockholm) he has conducted Verdi and Mozart.

Michael Bartosch has also led a number of symphony orchestras and ensem-bles, such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Camber Orchestra, KammarEnsembleN, Ars Nova, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symhony Orchestra and Musica Vitae. He has also worked with the legendary Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, Germany.

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Bartosz CajlerBartosz Cajler was born 1980 in Warsaw. He graduated with distinction from the F. Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw and also with soloist diploma at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He won several prizes in violin compe-titions, among others in Warsaw and Gothenburg. He performs regularly as a soloist in Polen, as well as in Sweden, Russia and Italy. His debut CD recording with the Violin Concerto by A. Tansman which was recently released was very well recieved. Bartosz Cajler is also active in the field of chamber music, mainly as leader of the Dahlkvist String Quartet. Since 2007 he is a faculty member of the Royal College of Music and Mälardalen University in Västerås. He also conducts summer violin courses in Poland. He plays a Vincenzo Postiglione’s instrument of 1895.

Ola KarlssonAfter receiving his solo diploma he continued his studies at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, where he received the Carl Nielsen Prize. This made further studies possible with the legendary virtuoso Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles. He is one of the leading cellists in Scandinavia and holds since 1985 the position of principal cellist of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has given numerous of master classes and has been a visiting professor in Canada, Denmark, Hungary, and Italy. Among his recordings are Hilding Rosenberg’s 2nd Cello Concerto, several Piatigorsky cello transcriptions, plus numerous chamber works. He has twice been awarded the Swedish recording prize, ”Grammy”.

Ola Karlsson is professor of cello and, together with Henrik Frendin, Chair of Strings at the department of Classical Music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm

Peter Berlind CarlsonIn his final year as a master student Peter was asked to join the teaching staff at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. After some years of teaching he received a British Council scholarship and continued his studies in London with - among others - guitarist David Russel and gamba player Charles Medlam.

Peter has given masterclasses at some of Europes most prestigious conservatoires and been a jury member at several international competitions. Presently his main interest lies in composing and playing chamber music in various ensembles. Peter Berlind Carlson is Chair of Guitar at the department of Classical Music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH).

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Joakim AmundinTradition, long working experience, reverence and respect for musical instruments: these are just some of Joakims’ signatures in his profession as master violin maker.

Joakim trained with master violin maker Arthur Bay in Hamburg/Germany and at the violin maker school in Mittenwald/Germany (198589), taking his exams there to become a journeyman. He further trained with master violin maker Reinhard Fischer in Hamburg/Germany and with Johann Scholtz in Düsseldorf/Germany.

In 1992 Joakim obtained his mastercraftsman’s certificate as master violin maker for violin maker from the Handwerkskammer Düsseldorf/Germany. Since then Joakim has run his own violin maker workshop (in Moers/Germany for 10 years and, since 2003, in Stockholm/Sweden).

Joakim accomplish all kind of repairing assignments as well as building new instru-ments of the whole range of string instruments.

Paul Barter In 1982 Paul Barter started his training as a violinmaker with Bengt Lindholm, violin maker to the Royal Court in Sweden and continued his studies with Roland Wiklund master violinmaker in Stockholm.

A keen interest in bows made Barter leave for England where he studied with Garner Wilson, former bowmaker at W.E. Hill & Sons.

Unfortunately the pernambuco dust put a stop to bow making on a larger scale and Barter returned to violin making . However the love of old master bows remains and these days only a small quantity of bows are made. Restoration work and replacement frogs are one of Barters specialities.

In 1990 Barter started as chief restorer at F Phelps Ltd. in London where work at the bench was mixed with going to the auctions to buy interesting instruments and bows.

After six years Barter returned to Stockholm and set up his own shop in 1997.Since 2004 his shop is located in the Old Town in Stockholm.

Barter has a Master Diploma in violin making and is a member of EILA : Entente Internationale des Maitres Luthiers et Archetiers d’Art.

INSTRUMENT AND BOW MAKERS

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Stefan HansenAfter studying the violin from the age of 9, I decided to change course and in 1973, enrolled at the Staatliche Berufsfachschule für Geigenbau Mittenwald, the most famous and most traditional place for violin making in Germany.

1977 I started working with Helmut Müller in Leonberg. There I learned the art of repairing old instruments, learning the techniques of Hans Weisshaar.

The following three years I was in Freiburg and worked for Hans Schicker. During the time there I learned a lot about French instruments.

1980 - 1981 worked in Holland. 1981 I became a master of violinmaking. 1983 - 1985 self employed in Freiburg. 1985 - 2005 lived in Hamburg where I had my own workshop. I worked a lot with the musicians of Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. During this time, my father, being the first concertmaster in the orchestra, was an enthusiastic companion in violin making. 2005 moved to Sweden and have a workshop to build violins, violas and celli, as well as repairing instruments. Became a member of Sveriges Violinbyggarmästare, SVM.

Tommy Jakobsson

35 years of experience. Built well over a hundred instruments and bows. Workshop in Gamla Uppsala, Sweden. Expert repairs to instruments and bows.For a more thorough presentation, please visit www.violin.se, where you also can follow the construction of a viola.

Per KlingaMusician myself, with a passion for sound of bowed instruments...

My workshop is situated in Mora in the middle of Sweden. Today I work exclusively with new making of violin, viola and cello. I also make bows for these instruments when I get time for it.

I am mechanical engineer, but I have no formal education in violin making. Talent col-leagues abroad and here in Sweden have been my teachers. My challenge is trying to recreate the unique voice and energy that you often find in old Italian master violins.

I have also created a new instrument of my own: Violina is a mini 5- stringed baroque viola (with violin string length). It has tune size and sound character of both the violin and the viola.

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Stefan LindholmStefan Lindholm was born in 1983 and is the grandson of Bengt Lindholm (1917-1996), violin maker appointed by His Majesty the King of Sweden.

As the first Swede, Stefan was trained at Newark and Sherwood School of Violin Making in England. The education was led by seven teachers specialised within various areas and in addition the school was regularly visited by international lecturers, often accompanied with fine antique violins for the pupils to study.

After his journeyman test Stefan started to work with the respected restorer and expert Sebastian Skarp in Stockholm where he has specialised himself in very complex restoration work carried out on instruments made by some of the greatest makers of all times. After nine years of studies and an extensive exam Stefan was awarded a Master Certificate from the Swedish Craft Council in 2008, Stefan is the youngest person ever to receive this title.

In his own workshop Stefan is devoted to making new violins, violas and cel-los. Most of his instruments are made according to his own models which clearly reflect his deep knowledge about fine antique instruments. Stefan Lindholm is a member of the British Violin Making Association and the Guild of Swedish Violin Makers, for which he was elected President in 2009.

Backa Mikael Backa Mikael started his career at the Royal Opera House Orchestra in Stockholm playing the viola. After some years in the orchestra, he left for Great Britain in 1984 to study violin-making at the Welsh School of Musical Instrument Making and Repair. The training was completed in June 1987 with a Certifcate of Distinction.

He has now built a good reputaion and works with members of all major Swedish orchestras as well as amatuers and students on all levels, doing repairs, restora-tion and new making. Having worked as a player himself he is familiar with the problems one can encounter with badly adjusted instruments, and has specialized in fitting-up and tonal adjustments.

He has taken part in violin-making competitions in Sweden, England and Germany. In 2005 at the 5th International Violin Making Competition in Mittenwald he got rank 6 for a viola, which received specially good comments for its tonal qualities and playability.

Sebastian SkarpMaster luthier Sebastian Skarp was born in Stockholm in 1961 . Mr Skarp is an international expert on fine violins, violas and cellos , and is a member of the

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EILA, Entente Internationale des Maitres Luthiers et Archetiers d´Art aswell as beeing a founder member of SVM, the Guild of Swedish Violinmakers.

Sebastian Skarp has 30 years of experience in violin making, expertise and restoration of important instrument. He is a certified valuer for the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, and has a exclusive and small production of new violins, violas and cellos that represent an unparalleled standard in Sweden today.. Mr Skarp´s instrument are made with all his extensive knowledge from his work as a restorer of historically important instruments such as A.Stradivari , Giuseppe Guarneri , Domenico Montagnana to mention a few. The very accurate detail-work on his instrument and his own varnish are of superior quality, and resemble closely those of the great italian masters . The overall concept of making an instrument where nothing is left to chance to create the ”perfect” sounding instru-ment, is a strong tenet in Sebastian Skarp´s philosophy of violinmaking .

Peter Westerlund My name is Peter Westerlund, 54 years old and run Westerlunds Violinverkstad AB since 1985. The company has two employees, me and my wife Irene, who is the administrator.

We specialize in new making of bowed instruments. The business is splendid and we have a constant waiting list of about a year. The customers span from well known soloists to students and dedicated amateurs.

Although there are a lot of demands common for all musicians, such as even-ness, response, etc I try to meet personal wishes as model, size, (very common by viola players) looks, neck shapes, etc. These wishes often make the making process, ending up in a tailor made product of mutual efforts.

We serve our customers with pictures from the steps of the making process, which are e-mailed regularly so the client can follow ”the birth”. Some of these pictures can be watched on our homepage www.westerlunds.se for the public to see. Please visit!

The outcome is more and more focused on export. In these cases we mostly sell to Europe but also to USA, Russia and others.

I find myself very happy and successful, as I am, to my knowledge, the only maker in Sweden that can live exclusively from making new instruments.

For the time being I am occupied with instrument number 257, a viola that can be looked at, on this exhibition.

Henrik Frendin, Bendik Goldstein, Vikor Olauson, Carolina Eyck, Anna Manell, Sara Munters, Hanna Ekström, Erika Sandström, Milda Žígure, Sigrid Kroeker, Sophie Bretschneider

THE VIOLA CLASS OF HENTRIK FRENDIN

Nordic Viola Society