Øyvind Aase — pianist

[ Biography | Discography | Press clippings | Repertoire plans ]

BOOKING:
thema music production • Eikåslia 8, N-5131 Nyborg, Norway
phone: +47 55 19 46 38
email: oyvind.aase@thema.no.

Biography

Øyvind Aase was born 1959 in Bergen, Norway. He now lives in Åsane near Bergen where he works as a freelance pianist and teacher.

Teachers, schools and courses

Øyvind AaseØyvind Aase got his formal education in Norway at the Bergen and Oslo universities. His piano teachers in Bergen were Liv Rise and Jan Henrik Kayser (1968-81), and during his music studies at the University of Oslo he was given piano lessons by Eline Nygaard (1979-80). In 1981 he went to London to continue his piano studies at the Advanced Solo Studies Course, Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The pianist Edith Vogel was his teacher there for 3 years, and in 1983 he achieved the school`s Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) after his performance of Beethoven`s Piano Sonata op.101, Brahms` Fantasien op.116 and Four Piano Pieces op.22 by the Norwegian composer Fartein Valen.

In 1975 Øyvind Aase performed Ravel`s Jeux d`Eau in a masterclass given by the pianist Charles Rosen at the Dartington Summer School of Music, England. During the following years he also took lessons from the pianists Albert Ferber (London and Bergen; 1975-77) and Jenny Solheid (Beethoven course in Bergen 1980). In the eighties his teachers in the field of chamber music included Edith Vogel and the violinist Manoug Parikian (London 1984), in addition to the violinist Sergiu Luca (masterclass in duo playing at the Académie de Musique Lausanne 1985) and the singer Anne Brown (accompaniment, Oslo 1988). Besides, Aase has worked with several Norwegian composers, and been guided how to perform their works.

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Concerts

At the age of 12 Øyvind Aase was complimented in a Bergen paper after his performance of a piece by Haydn. Four years later he won the 2nd prize in a national competition for young pianists in Oslo. And during the years 1975-81 he appeared regularly in public in his hometown Bergen.

In 1979 – at the age of 20 – Øyvind Aase made his solo debut as a concert pianist in the famous Aula in Oslo. His performance of works by Schubert and Debussy, not to mention Schumann`s demanding Davidsbündlertänze op.6, gained critical acclaim in five Oslo papers.

Edvard GriegIn 1980 Øyvind Aase made his first concert appearance at Troldhaugen, the home of the composer Edvard Grieg, where he performed works by Mozart and Grieg. In 1981 he made his solo debut with a symphony orchestra, and this event took place in Grieghallen in Bergen, where the pianist performed the Shostakovitch Piano Concerto no. 2 with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The following years included performances of piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven.

After Øyvind Aase had finished his studies at Guildhall in London, he returned to Norway and settled there in 1984. The programme for his solo recitals in Bergen and Oslo this year included the Haydn Sonata in C minor HXVI:20, the Beethoven Sonata in A major op.101 and Schumann`s great Sonata in F sharp minor op.11. His concerts the following years were devoted mostly to the chamber music repertoire, including major works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Reinecke, Grieg, Debussy, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Allan Pettersson and Olav Anton Thommessen, among others.
Aase`s soloistic activities in the eighties culminated in 1989, when he gave a solo recital in Troldsalen (at Troldhaugen) to celebrate his concert debut ten years earlier. On this occasion he performed Schubert`s great Piano Sonata in G major, Stravinsky`s Piano Sonata (1924) and for a third time a major work by Schumann: The Carnaval op.9.

From 1986 and onward Øyvind Aase gave concerts and made radio recordings in Norway, Sweden and Finland. For the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) he recorded the Schumann Piano Sonata op.11, and he also played the piano part in a recording of Josef Suk`s Four Pieces op.17 for the Swedish radio. Later – in 1988 – he returned to the NRK to do a recording of a selection of Preludes (op.28) by Chopin, and he also went to Helsinki to take part in a radio recording of Schubert`s Sonate ”Arpeggione” for the Finnish radio. In later years he has twice (1998/2001) made complete radio recordings for the NRK of the Norwegian composer Alf Hurum`s chamber works with piano.

After recitals in Nordic cities like Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki, Øyvind Aase was engaged by the East West Arts Ltd. in London and supported by the Norwegian NORAD to do a tour of India and Bangladesh in 1992. His solo and duo recitals in cities like Bombay, Poona, Bangalore, Delhi, Calcutta and Dhaka included performances of major sonatas for cello and piano by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninov, as well as piano works by Haydn and Grieg.

Alf HurumIn the early nineties Øyvind Aase made the acquaintance of several Norwegian composers, and over the next years he frequently gave first performances of solo and chamber works by Bjørn G. Gjerstrøm, Kjell Marcussen, Magne Grov and Kjell Mørk Karlsen. The Nordic profile of his repertoire these years was made even more explicit by his performances of works by Eyvind Alnæs, Arne Dørumsgaard, Øistein Sommerfeldt, Johan Kvandal, Egil Hovland, Per Hjort Albertsen, Vagn Holmboe, William Seymer, Sulho Ranta, and Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson. And when Øyvind Aase in 1993 gave a solo recital in Den Gamle Logen in Oslo, where he performed 6 Norwegian piano sonatas composed during a period of 200 years, he introduced the rarely played works by J. H. Berlin, T. Tellefsen, G. Gjerstrøm, Bjørn G. Gjerstrøm and F. Mortensen, together with the Grieg Sonata op.7.

His Nordic programme profile has been accentuated later through his performances of the Norwegian impressionist Alf Hurum`s piano and chamber music. In recent years Øyvind Aase has also performed many works by contemporary and twentieth century composers, and in 1999 he contributed to the centenary of the French composer Francis Poulenc`s birth by giving a Poulenc programme at the International Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger with Norwegian actress Sidsel Ryen.

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Discography

In 1991 Øyvind Aase went to Rainbow Studio in Oslo to record sonatas by Stravinsky, Haydn and Schumann for his first CD.

His next recordings focused on lesser known solo and chamber works by the Nordic composers Carl Nielsen, Johan Kvandal, Oskar Merikanto, Leifur Thórarinsson, Adolf Wiklund, Edvard Hagerup Bull, J. P. E. Hartmann, Emil Horneman, Fini Henriques, Gunnar Gjerstrøm and Bjørn G. Gjerstrøm. Among his CD recordings from the 1990`s, three are devoted to a repertoire that brings into focus motives and situations from the world of children.

In 1998 Øyvind Aase embarked on his most ambitious CD project to date, when he recorded Alf Hurum`s complete works for violin and piano with violinist Stephan Barratt-Due. The Hurum Collection now consists of 4 CDs on 3 editions, and the series is to be concluded in 2003.

The list of recorded works below is in alfabetical order. For further information on other musicians: See thema`s main page.
The figures refer to the following productions:

  1. EXPRESSIONS OF THE PIANO SONATA (PDR01/91)
  2. NORDIC PIANO MUSIC FOR CHILDREN (TH 195-2)
  3. TWO COMPOSERS • TWO GENERATIONS (TH 196-2)
  4. DET ER HELT SANT! (”IT`S PERFECTLY TRUE”) (TH 197-2)
  5. ALF HURUM: COMPLETE WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO (TH 199-2)
  6. BJØRNEN PADDINGTONS FØRSTE KONSERT (”PADDINGTON BEAR`S FIRST CONCERT”) (TH 200-2)
  7. ALF HURUM: A MUSICAL PAINTER. PIANO WORKS (TH 201-2)
  8. ALF HURUM: FANDANGO. COMPLETE SONGS WITH PIANO (TH 202-2)
Composer Title   CD
Bull, Edvard Hagerup The Tin Soldier op. 6B no.1 (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
Chappell, Herbert Paddington Bear`s first concert(reading/piano) First time CD recording with Norwegian text   6
Gjerstrøm, Bjørn G. Aria appassionata op.20 (violin/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
  Camara de Lobos op.8 (piano suite) World premiere recording on CD   3
  Foreboding op. 31/1 (soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
  In a strange night op.31/2 (soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
  Landscape with snow op.26 (soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
Gjerstrøm, Gunnar Berceuse (violin/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
  Caprice norvégienne (violin/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
  Piano Suite World premiere recording on CD   3
  Six songs (soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   3
Hartmann, J. P. E. Novellette. Six small pieces op.55b (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
  The Butterfly op.50/2 (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
  The Rocking Horse op.50/3 (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
Haydn, Joseph Piano Sonata in C minor HXVI:20     1
Henriques, Fini It`s perfectly true! (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
Horneman, Emil From the depths of the sea (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
  The Nightingale (piano) World premiere recording on CD   4
Hurum, Alf Exotic Suite op.9 (violin/piano) World premiere recording on CD   5
  Fairyland op.16 (piano suite) World premiere recording on CD   2/7
  For Piano op.3 (piano suite)     7
  For Piano op.7 (selection) World premiere recording on CD   7
  Gothic Pictures op.17 (piano suite)     7
  Impressions op.4 (piano suite)     7
  Nordic Suite op.18 (piano) World premiere recording on CD   7
  Pastels op.10 (piano suite) World premiere recording on CD   7
  Rococo (piano) World premiere recording on CD   7
  Songs with piano op.11 World premiere recording on CD   8
  Songs with piano op.12 World premiere recording on CD   8
  Songs with piano op.13 World premiere recording on CD   8
  Songs with piano op.14 World premiere recording on CD   8
  Songs with piano op.19 World premiere recording on CD   8
  September (mezzo-soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   8
  Sonata for violin and piano op.2 in D minor World premiere recording on CD   5
  Sonata for violin and piano op.8 in A minor World premiere recording on CD   5
  The Birch (mezzo-soprano/piano) World premiere recording on CD   8
  Watercolours op.5 (piano suite)     7
Korngold, E. W. Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse op.3/2 (piano)     4
Kvandal, Johan Eight Folk-tunes for piano op.70 World premiere recording on CD   2
Merikanto, Oskar From the world of children op.31 (piano suite)     2
Nielsen, Carl Humoresque-Bagatelles op.11 (piano suite)     2
Poulenc, Francis The story of Babar, the small elephant (reading/piano) First time CD recording with Norwegian text   6
Schumann, Robert Piano Sonata op.11 in F sharp minor     1
Stravinsky, Igor Piano Sonata (1924)     1
Thórarinsson, Leifur Children`s Pieces (piano suite) World premiere recording on CD   2
Wiklund, Adolf From my window (piano suite) World premiere recording on CD   2

World premiere recording on CD World premiere recording on CD
First time CD recording with Norwegian text First time CD recording with Norwegian text

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Press clippings

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Repertoire plans 2003 –

Øyvind Aase will be engaged in the following projects from 2003:

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