Eugéne Ysaye: Sonata for Solo Violin No.2 in A minor

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Soloist: Henning Kraggerud
Label: SIMAXClassics
Cat. No.: PSC1293

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is one of Scandinavia's most sought after artists.

He performs as a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras, both in Europe and in North America, and is increasingly in demand in a play/direct capacity. He has performed with the Oslo Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Verdi Orchestra Milano, Stockholm Radio, Netherlands Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Helsinki Philharmonic, Prague Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as well as many of the British orchestras including the Halle Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony. Henning enjoys successful artistic collaborations with many conductors including Paavo Berglund, Stephane Deneve, Ivan Fischer, Marek Janowski, Mariss Jansons, Yakov Kreizberg, Kirill Petrenko, Jukka Pekka Saraste, Kurt Sanderling among others.

Current and future highlights include engagements with London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, RTE, Scottish Chamber, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Tampere Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Capitole du Toulouse, Orchestre National de Lyon, Stavanger Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Hiroshima Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Utah Symphony, and Toronto Symphony. He will also return to the Oslo Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony all where he enjoys a special relationship.

A committed chamber musician, Kraggerud also performs both on violin and on viola at the major international festivals collaborating with musicians such as Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Martha Argerich, Jeffrey Kahane, Stephen Kovacevich, Truls Mørk Kathryn Stott and Lars Anders Tomter. In 2004 he was Artist in Residence at the Bergen International Music Festival where he performed recitals, chamber music and concertos and in 2005, he performed with Leif Ove Andsnes in his Perspectives Season at Carnegie Hall, New York. Next season he will return to many festivals including Bergen, Risor and Verbier Festivals and recitals at the Wigmore Hall. Adding to his multi-faceted career, Kraggerud is an innovative improviser and composer, performing many of his own cadenzas and arrangements in concert and several of his compositions have been performed at Festivals worldwide.

Kraggerud has recorded three critically acclaimed CDs for Naxos – Grieg Violin Sonatas (with Helge Kjekshus), a set of Norwegian Pieces for violin and orchestra and the Sibelius and Sinding Violin Concerti with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The most recent addition to his discography is the complete unaccompanied Violin Sonatas by Ysaye for Simax for which he received the prestigious Spellemann CD award. This has been received with critical acclaim and Andrew Clarke writes in the Financial Times:

This Norwegian violinist makes a big impression by the very fact that he does not force his virtuosity. He treats the sonatas not as technical exercises but as a musical self-communing in the spirit of Bach. The phrasing is imaginative, the tone never less than fragrant. Even if you are unfamiliar with Ysaye, one of the great virtuosi a century ago, you will enjoy this disc.

He has recently recorded four new discs for Naxos including two discs of Sinding's works for Violin and Piano, a selection of Ysaye chamber works and Spohr Double Concertos; all of which were released during the 0809 season. Henning was also involved in making a major television & cinema documentary about the Norwegian violin virtuoso and composer, Ole Bull (1810-80) which was released in November 2006 and is now available on DVD with English subtitles. Henning subsequently received the Ole Bull Prize in 2007.

Born in Oslo in 1973, he studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz and is a recipient of Norway's prestigious Grieg Prize and in 2007 was awarded the Sibelius Prize for his interpretations and recording of Sibelius’ music throughout the world. Henning is a Professor at the Barratt-Due music conservatoire. From 2011, Henning replaces Leif Ove Andsnes as Artistic Director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music in Norway.

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

April 2010, please do not amend without permission of IMG Artists.

Date Last Edited: 23rd April 2010