Biography Rolf-Erik Nystrøm

ROLF-ERIK NYSTRØM - Norwegian saxophonist, composer & improviser. Born 23’rd of April, 1975 in Lørenskog.

Nominated to the Nordic Council's Music Prize 2011 (previous nominees are a.o. Bjørk, Kaija Saariaho, Esa Pekka Salonen, Jan Garbarek & Christian Lindberg).

The jury says: Rolf-Erik Nystrøm, saxophonist; born 1975, despite his young age, is one of Norway’s most award-winning and internationally active musicians. His unique technical talent gives him a timbre control that blows most people’s notions of what is possible on a saxophone, to a degree that makes the saxophone as an instrument almost subordinate to his personal expression. Nystrøm’s range spans from being a soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and a number of other Nordic and international ensembles, to receiving specially written music from composers such as Luca Francesconi, Rolf Wallin and Richard Barrett to name a few. In addition, he co-operates with leading performers in various folk music (South-Africa, Tadjikistan, Egypt, Brazil, Ivory Coast, China, Norway, Sri Lanca) and tours the world with them. Not to be forgotten: He also signs his own improvisation-based compositions. Far from being a superficial cross-over artist, on the contrary, he makes his mark by an unusual ability to orient himself in new musical situations; to be 'in the style' and contribute with a personal, pioneering expression.

Other highlights: Soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Johan Storgårds in both Glazunov’s Saophone Concerto and Luca Francesconi’s sax concerto TRAMA April, 2013 with great critic in the press..

His album w/Zanussi 13 chosen as best album of the year 2012 in NYC Jazz Records Journal. Artistic leader for and Artist in Residence during the Ultima International Contemporary Music Festival in Oslo 2011. Festival Profile in the Nordland Music Festival 2012 in Bodø.He was chosen to create and perform the only musical element in the opening ceremony of the new Astrup Fearnley Museum for Contemporary Art in Oslo, by Renzo Piano.

Prices & grants:

The National Concert Council’s Debut Price 2001. Received the Young Peoples Lindeman Prize 2005 (the highest acclaim for young musicians in Norway). Artist grant from the Norwegian state 2004-05 & 2010-12. Performer of the Year 2009 by the Norwegian Composer’s Union with his trio Poing. Voted Best Folk Music Album 2009 with his trio Seven Winds in Norways biggest non-tabloid newspaper Aftenposten. Hounorable Musician of Tadjikistan for his work with falak.

Soloist w/ orchestra: He has been soloist several times with the Oslo Philharmonic (2000, 2010 & 2013), Norwegian Radio Symph.Orch.(2003, 2005, 2013), w/ Telemark Chamber Orch.(2011,2013), Chamber Music society of Colombo and Niteroi Youth Orch. (2011), Sinfonieorkester Basel, Swedish Radio Symph.Orch., Bergen Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony Orch., North Norway Symphony Orch.(2013), TM+ (Nanterre) (2008 & 2010), Oslo Sinfonietta (several times), Kaput Ensemble (Iceland)(several times), Norwegian State Academy Orch., Norwegian Wind Ensemble, Tapiola Sinfonietta (Finland) and other sinfoniettas in Norway, Denmark & Finland. (Works by Rosing-Schow, Feld, Nurulla-Khoja, Thommessen, Kruse, Rohloff, Bartok, Francesconi, Lars P.Hagen, Allen, Paus, F.Martin, Nordin, Buene, himself and Glazunov)

Performed in 2012 at the Ultima Festival, Rumi festival, All Ears, Artist in Residence at Nordland Music Festival (10 different concerts in 8 days), Literature Festival in Hamar + tours and other concerts in Norway, France (la Villette Jazz Festival, dance festivals, Toulouse, Orleans), Wittener Tage (w/ Haltli, Garth Knox & Roham de Saram), played on the opening ceremony for the Bergen Art Festival for the 3’rd time, Belgium, On The Edge Of Wrong (concerts, workshops & meetings w/ legendary South-African musicians + giving lectures in Cape Town & Kristiansand), Sweden, Bremen, Lithuania & Switzerland ++

2013: Soloist w/ the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in both Luca Francesconi’s saxophone concerto Trama & Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto w/ conductor John Storgårds, w/Telemark Chamber orch. in the recording of Olav A. Thommessen’s Rapid Clouds, w/the Norwegian Radio Orch. in music by Bernard Herrmann. Concerts in Brazil, Poland, USA, Canada, Belgium, Russia, France, Huddersfield (England). Concerts together w/ Poing, Per Petterson, J.M.Coetzee etc.

Music is currently being composed for him by a.o. : Bent Sørensen, Ole Henrik Moe jr., Sachiyo Tsurumi, Christer Lindwall, Natasha Barrett, Marcus Paus, Julian Skar, Hing-yan Chen, etc.

He has had recitals all over China (Expo 2010 etc.& visited the country 10 times), in Brazil, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Tanzania, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Austria (Wien Konzerthaus etc.), Ivory Coast, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Japan, Poland (Warsaw Autumn, EBU Young Soloists etc.), Åland, Netherlands, Belgium, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Slovenia, Morocco, Chech, Serbia, Prague, France, Italy (Venice Art Biennale etc.), Spain, Finland, Russia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, USA, England, Canada, Egypt, all over Sweden and Norway.

Has written music for different music theatre, documentaries, films, chamber music, dance (the Polish Dance Theatre etc.) a.o..

Masterdegree in saxophone from the Norwegian State Academy of Music and exame w/ the highest degree, where he now gives lectures in philosophy & consciousness in contemporary music. Gives lectures/workshops around the world. Studies w/ John Edward Kelly.

He was appointed Artistic Director of Ultima International Contemporary Music Festival 2011 together with his 2 colleagues in Poing (Håkon Thelin & Frode Haltli) and Luca Francesconi. Chairman of the Grappa Price for Young Debutants (2008-10). From 2012 he sits in the artistic board of Oslo Sinfonietta.

His main collaborators are Poing, Kouame Sereba, Hero, Seven Winds, Nils Økland, Frikar, Company B.Valiente & Zeng Xiaogang.

He has also played concerts with Renato Rivolta, Liu Xing, Raquel Andueza, the Dubliners, Walid Al-Kubaisi, Nicolae Moldoveanu, Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Raed AbdElGhany, Dror Feiler, Zanussi 5, Paal Nilssen-Love, Phil Durrant, Bugge Wesseltoft, Duvlatmand Kholov, Becaye Aw, Nass Makan, Nelson da Rabeca, Sidsel Endresen, Nils Petter Molvaer, Bendik Hofseth, Yumiko Tanaka, Marcio Farraco, Christian Wolff, Hanggai, Misha Alperin, Rolf Lislevand, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Laurent Cuniot, Geneviéve Strosser, Christian Lindberg, Christian Eggen, Paolo Veron, Trygve Seim, Luca Francesconi, Jarle Bernhoft, Marion Ravn, Mac MacKenzie, Dizu Plaatjies, Fe-Mail, Ma Xiaohui, Fang JinLong, Wu Fei, Rolf Wallin, Tansy Davies, Cikada, Raymond Strid, Marc Soustrot, Steve Noble, Samuel Rohrer, Tora Augstad, Axel Dörner, Christian Wallumrød, etc

In 2006 he released his first soloalbum, Concepts of Sorrows & Dangers, produced by Rolf Wallin, nominated to the Norwegian Grammy and received great critics in all the biggest Norwegian papers. The album contains specially written music for him by Wallin, Maja Ratkje, Lars Petter Hagen, Øyvind Torvund and Trond Reinholdtsen + music by himself, Xenakis and Francesconi.

Nystrøm works also as a producer on other artists’ records. Participated on more than 100 albums (Poing, Zanussi5, TM+, Ulver, Marcus Paus, No Spaghetti, Swedish Radio Orch., Seven Winds, Oslo Sinfonietta,, Trondheim Jazz Orch., Nelson da Rabeca, Maja Ratkje etc).

In addition to perform contemporary music, he also regularly performs west-African, improvised, jazz, funk, falak, Arabic, forró, Chinese, tarab, zar, rock and early baroque music.

Have also premiered and have had more than 100 pieces specially written for him, from concertos to solopieces by a.o.: Aagaard-Nilsen, Adderley, S.Allen, Ásgeirsson, J.Balke, R.Barrett, R.Berge, Boivin, Bratlie, Buene, Chan HingYan, Ciancio, Diendorfer, Feiler, Finnissy, Flø, Francesconi, Franzson, Fundal, G.Groven, J.Gustavsson, Hagen, Hagerup, Haydn, Hegdal, Heyn, Holmboe, Holopainen, Hyvãrinen, Ikeda, Ingolfsson, Jono El Grande, Kozakura, Krunglevicius, Kruse, Lievonen, Lindborg, Lindwall, Lützow-Holm, Maros, Motiekaitis, Nevsky, Nordin, Nurulla-Khoja, Oh, Paus, Peters, Ratkje, Rautonikytae, Reinholdtsen, Riley, Rohloff, Sandgren, Skar, Steen Andersen, Stenvaag, H.H.Sunde, K.O.Sunde, Søderlind, Thelin, Thommessen, Torvund, Tsurumi, Tysland, Knut Vaage, Vogt, Wallin, Waring, Yamamoto, Z.Øverli and others.

ROLF-ERIK NYSTRØM has strongly made his mark both on the saxophone and as

a composer and improviser, and he keeps himself very active without compromising

on quality. The composer Rolf Wallin commented:

‘His appetite and keen interest in music in all its shapes catches the audience, and

through a refreshing lack of self-pretensciousness, combined with an intense and

concentrated stage presence he opens the listener’s ears for the new sounds being

performed.’

ROLF-ERIK NYSTRØM

TOFTESGT. 61 A

0552 OSLO

NORWAY

Tlf: +47 92281736

e-mail: [email protected]

www.poing.no

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