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

He performs as 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, 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 Marek Janowski, Ivan Fischer, Paavo Berglund, Kirill Petrenko, Yakov Kreizberg, Mariss Jansons, Stephane Deneve, Kurt Sanderling among others.

Current and future highlights include engagements with City of Birmingham Symphony , Royal Philharmonic, RTE, Scottish Chamber, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Tampere Philharmonic, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Stavanger Symphony, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Hiroshima 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 Stephen Kovacevich, Kathryn Stott, Leif Ove Andsnes, Jeffrey Kahane, Truls Mørk and Martha Argerich. 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 and Verbier Festivals and a 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. This has already 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 to be released during the 08/09 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.

Born in Oslo in 1973, he studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz and is a recipient of Norway 's prestigious "Grieg Prize". He has a position teaching at the Barratt-Due music conservatoire.

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

English CV  by IMG Artists  /  July  2008

Kjell Wernøe - Director  - Vardesvingen 92F, N-5141 Bergen - Fyllingsdalen, Norway Tel: + 47 95 14 00 74 | E-mail: proarte@online.no Member of International Artist Managers Association - IAMA