Terje Bjørklund

Terje Bjørklund
Background information
Born (1945-01-02) 2 January 1945
Narvik, Nordland, Norway
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician, composer
Instruments Piano
Website www.ntnu.no/ansatte/terje.bjorklund

Terje Bjørklund (born 2 January 1945 in Narvik, Norway) is a jazz pianist and composer. He was an active jazz pianist until approximately 1980. From then on he has concentrated on composing.

Education and career

After obtaining his Master's Degree in Musicology at the University of Oslo in 1971, Bjørklund studied composition with Finn Mortensen at the Norwegian Academy of Music (1971–1973). Bjørklund has collected his experiences as a jazz musician in the text book Moderne jazzimprovisasjon. In 1983 he was awarded the Norwegian Jazz Association's highest award: the Buddy prize, for his efforts within Norwegian jazz life.

From 1973 onwards Bjørklund has been employed at the Conservatory of Music in Trondheim. In 1979 he initiated the Jazz Program at the Conservatory. The Conservatory is now part of The Department of Music[1] at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology) and today Bjørklund is an Associate Professor there, with the responsibility for courses in composition and music theory.

As a composer Bjørklund has primarily been oriented toward serious art music. In many of his works harmony is a main element. The way in which he handles harmony and sound is reminiscent of modern jazz. Bjørklund's music was played at the LOOC Festival "Olympic Winter Land" in Tokyo in 1993. He was the festival composer during the North Norwegian Festival in 1993 and at the Chamber Music Festival Vinterfestspill.[2] in Røros in 2004. He was "Artist/Composer of the Week" in the Norwegian national radio station NRK P2 in both 1991 and 2004.

Honors

Works

Terje Bjørklund has in particular written for strings, partially because of the rich string milieu in Trondheim. He has also written a series of works on commission for chorus, orchestra and various solo and chamber music groups. Among these are: Ole Edvard Antonsen, Christian Lindberg, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Chilingerian String Quartet, Trondheim Soloists, Marianne Thorsen, Nidaros Cathedral Boys' Choir, Aage Kvalbein, Stig Nilsson, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Bjarne Fiskum.

Selected works[3]

In the last few years Terje Bjørklund has also composed two full-evening so-called "crossover works":

Publications

Recordings

Bjørklund's music has been released on 3 dedicated CDs:

In addition, many of his works are included on other CDs. A complete list is found on his own website.[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terje Bjørklund.

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Radka Toneff
Recipient of the Buddyprisen
1983
Succeeded by
Jon Balke
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