On Tuesday, November 1, Nordic Centre is proud to host a concert by a violin quartet from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the Nordic String Quartet. The highly renowned quartet will play a variety of Danish and European classical compositions.
Time: November 1, 18:00
Place: Auditorium 102, East Wing of Guanghua Towers
Attendance is free. Open to all, but please register by email to events@nordiccentre.net by Thursday, October 27.
We are very grateful to the Royal Danish Academy of Music for this opportunity.
About the musicians:
Nordic String Quartet was formed in 2013 in Copenhagen and consists of violinist Heiðrun Petersen (Faroe Islands), violinist Mads Haugsted Hansen (Denmark), violist Daniel Eklund (Sweden) and cellist Lea Emilie Brøndal (Denmark).
All four members have a dedicated passion for chamber music, and have all chosen to put their hearts in the quartet. As an ensemble they enjoy playing the fantastic and various standard repertoire written for string quartet – such as Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert - just as much as they are intrigued by the corporation with contemporary composers. The name of the quartet does not only refer to the different Nordic nationalities of the members, but is also an expression of the quartet’s special interest in the repertoire written by Nordic composers, such as Carl Nielsen, Edward Grieg, Sibelius, etc.
Each member of the ensemble have taken their Bachelor and Masters education at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM), but in 2014 Nordic String Quartet they were accepted for the special Advanced Postgraduate programme for ensembles with professor Tim Frederiksen.
May 10, 2017 they will mark the end of their studies at the academy with a concert in the great concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
During only a couple of years the quartet has gained a lot of positive publicity and has already performed at various prestigious scenes in Scandinavia.
Nordic String Quartet has performed together with the famous pianist and Yale-professor Boris Berman and the Latvian pianist Sergej Osokin. Under the name Nordic Piano Quintet they form a piano quintet together with the award winning German pianist, Marie-Luise Bodendorff.
In the following months the quartet will record the famous and much beloved Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s string quartets on the DACAPO label.
About the participating professors
Tim Frederiksen (b.1955) is Head of Department for Strings and Professor in Viola and Chamber Music.
Tim Frederiksen studied with Gunnar Frederiksen, Erling Bloch in Copenhagen and Professor Max Rostal, Konservatorium für Musik, Switzerland.
In 1980 he was appointed Principal Viola in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra - from 1983 to 1996 as concert master. He has appeared as a soloist with most Danish symphony orchestras on both violin and viola.
Tim Frederiksen is a much sought-after chamber musician. As primarius in the Danish String Quartet he has 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 recording has been awarded with Deutsche Schallplatten Preis 1997.
In 1995 Tim Frederiksen was appointed 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 has coached award winning Danish ensembles, like The Danish String Quartet, Nightingale String Quartet, Trio Ismena and many more.
Tim Frederiksen is highly in demand as a teacher at international and national master classes and is often invited as jury member in international music competitions, a.o the Max Rostal Competition in Berlin and Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.
Serguei Azizian (b. 1957) is Professor of violin at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. He completed his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory (Skt Petersburg) graduating with an advanced postgraduate diploma.
He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Russia, Scandinavia, USA, Japan, Korea and China. Serguei Azizian has taught in St. Petersburg Conservatory (1990-1993) and in 2001 he was appointed professor in violin at The Royal Danish Academy of Music). Serguei Azizian has played in the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra (1980-1993) and is former concert master in Copenhagen Phil (1993-2011).
Serguei Azizian has recorded numerous CD's with the Copenhagen Phil. Among his recordings are of Britten and Walton's violin concertos and works by Schubert, Bach, Prokovieff, Schnittke, Ravel, Messiaen, Schønberg, Babadjanian Langgaard.
In 2009, Serguei Azizian was awarded the Carl Nielsen and Anne-Marie Carl Nielsen Award one of Denmarks most prestigious prizes. Sergui Azizian was awarded the prize for his ability to raise the standards for future Danish violinists.
Max Artved was admitted to the Academy at the age of 15 and qualified as a soloist in 1990. During his years of study, he went abroad to both Paris and London, where he studied under Maurice Bourque and Gordon Hunt. He was appointed solo oboist in The Danish National Symphony Orchestra in 1990 and from 1992 1st solo oboist.
He started DR’s Wind Quintet and is also the artistic leader of The Diamond Ensemble, the resident ensemble of the Royal Library. He has won several prizes throughout the years as well as receiving several distinctions; including The Music Critic’s Circle’s art prize and Gladsaxe Music Prize.
Max Artved has recorded a number of CD’s, including a range of Danish oboe music on the Dacapo label, as well as chamber music for oboe and strings by Crusell, Mozart and Bach, and lately, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Danish composer Carl Nielsen, the songs by Nielsen arranged for oboe string quartet and jazz duo on NAXOS.
Max Artved was appointed professor at the RDAM in 2009.
About the Royal Danish Academy of Music
The Royal Danish Academy of Music is a power centre in the classical music world, representing the highest international level and compares to and cooperates with a number of the foremost music academies in the world. The academy offers study programmes within music and music pedagogy at the highest level, taught by a corps of teachers, numbering several of the greatest names in music, including many international capacities affiliated as guest professors. The study environment is very international and is characterized by a healthy competition accentuated interaction between the students, Danish as well as international.
The academy offers a wide selection of study programmes at bachelor, master and advanced postgraduate soloist level aiming at employment as musicians, organists, composers, music teachers, tonmeisters or other employment possibilities within the music world. The advanced postgraduate programmes improve the students' level to the highest possible as soloists, opera singers, composers or conductors.
As a metropolitan academy RDAM has a comprehensive network of collaborators that in a decisive manner enriches the study programmes as well as all other activities. Internationally the academy co-operates with leading academies in Europe, USA and China and on the national scene the collaboration includes the other artistic educational institutions under the Ministry of Culture and several leading universities.
The academy is housed in iconic buildings drawn by the Danish architect Vilhelm Lauritzen (the former National Radio House), containing fully modern teaching and practicing rooms as well as superb concert halls and recording studios in international top class.