WHEN FOLK MUSIC MEETS CLASSICAL PIANO

WHEN FOLK MUSIC MEETS CLASSICAL PIANO

Norwegian pianist Knut Erik Jensen is an assistant professor at NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Department of Music, head of the piano class at Lørdagsskolen, Trondheim Cultural School and has a rich freelance career. He has a master's degree from NTNU, Department of Music in Trondheim in performing piano. He has been a sought-after musician in Norway for many years, especially within the vocal community as an accompanist and repetiteur, and also as a chamber musician and soloist. Since 2007 he has played close to 200 concerts in the USA, mostly as a solo pianist, but also with singers and instrumentalists. In recent years he has done performances of all of Grieg's songs in Seattle and Portland, in a 7 concert series collaborating with the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society, and as a soloist in the Grieg and Klaus Egge piano concertos. Of his own projects he works extensively with Norwegian piano music, both by commissioning new works from composers and finding pieces that are not often played. In 2013 he commissioned and premiered the piano sonata "Ruf und Nachklang" by Ståle Kleiberg, and in 2022 he was the pianist on the album «Requiem, Læreren som ikke ble» and «Trisyn» by Marcus Paus, together with Knut Stiklestad. In addition to his work as a classical pianist, Knut Erik Jensen has a very versatile background from several genres of music. He has performed in Lanzarote several times before, primarily with Scandinavian piano music.