Starring in Langgaard Festival 2025

On this page you can read about the participating musicians, artists and speakers at Langgaard Festival 2025.

Academic Choir, Aarhus

Akademisk Kor Århus was founded in 1985 and is currently led by Jonas Rasmussen. The choir consists of singers affiliated with Aarhus University and the Royal Academy of Music and is known as one of Denmark’s leading amateur choirs.

With around 15 annual concerts and tours to Japan, Spain, Italy, USA, Germany and other countries, the choir has achieved international recognition. Awards include the Kalamata International Choral Competition (2024), Sing for Gold in Barcelona (2022) and the World Choral Championship in Tokyo (2019).

The choir works actively to spread the Danish song heritage through concerts, commissioned works and recordings.

Since 2021, the choir has collaborated with Danacord to record Svend S. Schultz’s complete a cappella works – a project that has been critically acclaimed and played on P2. The choir has also released Lotusøje (2020) and collaborated with Den Gamle By on several releases.

Anne-Mette Villumsen

Anne-Mette Villumsen is an art historian and museum director at Ribe Art Museum.

She has previously been museum director at the Skovgaard Museum in Viborg.

Ribe Art Museum and Rued Langgaard Festival have entered into a collaboration agreement for the next three years, where an artwork or artist will be selected in relation to this year’s festival theme.

Astrid Grarup Elbo

Astrid Grarup Elbo is a principal dancer at The Royal Danish Ballet, choreographer. Trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School and principal dancer since 2023. Received Reumert 2020 as Dancer of the Year for Bonnie & Clyde and was nominated in 2024 for Waiting Places. Choreographer behind Folkeviser (2025), Skønheden og Sacre (2024) and CHARMS (2023).

Core member of the duo La Mia Bella Sorella with violinist Katrine Grarup Elbo.

Has danced leading roles as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Karen Blixen, and Hilda in A Folktale. Regular dancer in Verdensballet since 2021.

Bendt Viinholt Nielsen

Bendt Viinholt Nielsen is a music librarian and musicologist.

He was employed in the music publishing industry 1977-84, then at the Danish Music Information Center (MIC) and since 2003 he has been employed at the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces under the Ministry of Culture, from where he is now retired.

He is also periodically affiliated with the research department at the Royal Library.

In 1991 he published an inventory of Rued Langgaard’s works (the BVN inventory) and in 1993 a Langgaard biography, which was published in 2012 in an expanded and revised edition.

In 2000, Bendt Viinholt Nielsen established the Rued Langgaard Edition, a scholarly publishing series of the composer’s works.

Benjamin Friis Nielsen

Benjamin Friis Nielsen completed his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 2010 in the church music program where he studied with Professor Hans Fagius and Kurt Levorsen.

At the same time, he has taken improvisation classes with Mattias Wager in Stockholm.

2004-05 he studied in London, where he was organist at the Church of Denmark while taking lessons with organist David Sanger.

Benjamin Friis Nielsen has been employed as organist at St. Catharinæ Church in Ribe since 2010.

He is the founder and conductor of Ribe Drengekor.

Berit Johansen Tange

Berit Johansen Tange trained as a pianist at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Anne Øland and made her debut from the chamber music class in 2000.

She has been employed as an accompanist and repetiteur there since 2002.

She has performed as an accompanist, chamber musician and soloist in countless contexts at home and abroad and has worked intensively with Rued Langgaard’s music, including as co-editor and consultant on several releases under the Rued Langgaard Edition.

She has released four CDs of his solo piano works on the Dacapo label, and together with violinist Gunvor Sihm she has made the first complete recording of Langgaard’s works for violin and piano.

Birgitte Ebert

Birgitte Ebert, organist, trained in Copenhagen, Lübeck and Paris with her debut concert at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1990.

She was organist at Hellerup Church from 1990-1999 until she became cathedral organist in Ribe in 2000.

She is active as an organ soloist and chamber musician at home and abroad and has been a soloist with the Danish Radio and South Jutland Symphony Orchestra.

Birgitte Ebert is co-founder and treasurer of the Rued Langgaard Society and coordinator of the annual Rued Langgaard Festival.

She has also co-edited four volumes of organ works under the Rued Langgaard Edition.

Christian Westergaard

Christian Westergaard is a pianist and accompanist trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

He has performed at Wigmore Hall and international concert halls and received great acclaim for the CD box set Peter Heise: The Song Edition (2021) and the album of Jacob Gade’s piano works (2010).

Christian is behind Liedkompagniet and the project New Danish Songs with a special focus on Danish piano music with works by Gade, Nielsen, Koppel and Bentzon.

Christian Giuseppe Martínez Alegría

Christian Giuseppe Martínez Alegría is a percussionist and member of Esbjerg Ensemble since 1996. He is from Colombia and trained at the Manhattan School of Music, Stavanger and Det Kgl. Danish Academy of Music.

He has collaborated with Per Nørgård and Omar Ebrahim, among others, and released a number of albums.

He teaches at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and masterclasses.

David Danholt

David Danholt, tenor, is a graduate of the Opera Academy and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He has an extensive concert career as an oratorio and opera singer and has performed on opera stages in the US and Europe, including the Bayreuth Festival, where he sang the role of Claudio in Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot.

In 2014 he won 1st prize in the International Wagner Competition in Seattle. David Danholt has received the Reumert Talent Prize and the Music Critics’ Circle’s Artist Prize and is associated with the Royal Danish Theatre as a guest soloist.

Deeply felt

Dybfølt is a duo with bassist Mathæus Bech and cellist Kirstine Elise Pedersen.

They play interpretations of music by Langgaard and other classical works in their own unique mix of classical and folk music.

With the two deepest instruments in the string family, they have created a unique sound with a unique repertoire.

Both Elise Pedersen and Mathæus Bech originally studied classical music and have a great love for Nordic folk music.

Their repertoire is therefore inspired by both classical music and Nordic folk music, with a particular passion for the music of Rued Langgaard

Esben Tange

Esben Tange holds an MA. in Music and Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen.

Music critic at Berlingske Tidende 1994-95.
Program employee at DR P2 from 1995.
From 2007 editor and concert host.
Member of the board of the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation since 2004.
Chairman since 2012.
Co-founder of the Rued Langgaard Society in 2007.
Chairman of the company until 2011.
Esben Tange co-founder and festival director of Rued Langgaard Festival in Ribe.
Since 2002 and in collaboration with pianist Berit Johansen Tange, he has created a series of visually communicated concert performances with music by Langgaard, Schumann, Wagner and others.

Concept and staging of musical drama, including Parsifal in Ribe (2013), Antikrist (2015) and performances based on Niels W. Gade’s Elverskud (2017) and Grieg’s Peer Gynt (2019).
Lecturer and writer of articles on classical and modern music.
Author of, among others, Hjerterne opad I.
Towards the Light.
Rued Langgaard, Music and Symbolism (2014).

Esbjerg Ensemble

Esbjerg Ensemble was established in 1967 as the first professional chamber ensemble in Denmark.

The ensemble now consists of 10 musicians from all over the world, divided into string quartet, wind quintet and percussion.

The ensemble has a long list of CDs with works by Beethoven, Mozart, Shostakovich, Fauré and others.

Most prominent, however, are the recordings of Danish music by Carl Nielsen, Bent Sørensen, Karl Aage-Rasmussen and Per Nørgård.

In addition to concerts in Denmark, Esbjerg Ensemble can often be found on international stages through invitations to the Bergen International Festival, Klangspuren Schwaz, NordlichterBerlin and China, as well as regular concerts in northern Germany.

Helle Lund Rosborg

Helle Lund Rosborg is project manager and fundraiser at Rued Langgaard Festival.

She is educated in music and film and TV studies and has worked in Aalborg Symphony Orchestra with concept and audience development.

She is also a fundraiser for Opera i Rebild and a consultant in Esbjerg Ensemble.

Jacob Kirkegaard

Jacob Kirkegaard (1975) is a sound artist who made his debut as a sound recorder at the age of 6 and was introduced to sound art in 1994.

Kirkegaard uses recordings of everything from melting ice and firearms to human ear sounds (otoacoustic emissions). He has exhibited at MoMA (New York), LOUISIANA and ARoS, and is represented by Fridman Gallery and Galleri Tom Christoffersen. His work has been released by labels such as Touch (UK) and Important Records (USA).

Member of the sound art collective freq_out and founder of the art organization TOPOS. Received the Eckersberg Medal from the Academy Council in 2022 for his artistic contributions. Has collaborated with artists such as Else Marie Pade, Lydia Lunch and Julie Martin. Taught and researched at the University of Oxford and Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, among others. Collaborated with the UN Waste Wise Cities program as a sound artist and advisor on the Global Plastics Agreement.

Jens Cornelius

Jens Cornelius (1968), cand.phil. in Musicology from the University of Copenhagen.

Program staff member at DR’s classical radio channel P2 and program writer for the DR Symphony Orchestra and the DR Vocal Ensemble.

Chairman of the Weyse Foundation and has previously been on the board of Rued Langgaard Selskabet.

He is also the editor of the book series Danish Composers (for Multivers) and has written books about the composers Ludolf Nielsen, Victor Bendix and Emil Reesen. His next book, about the composer P.E. Lange-Müller, will be published shortly.

Jonas Eika

Jonas Eika is the author of ‘Lageret Huset Marie’, ‘Eftersolen’ and most recently ‘Open Heaven’, a historical novel about the beginnings of the Christian women’s movement.

They have also edited a selection of Ivan Malinowski’s poems under the title ‘Isn’t death political?’ and, in collaboration with Nanna Dahler, translated American author Jackie Wang’s ‘Prison Capitalism’ into Danish.

Jonas Eika has received the Blixen Prize, the Montana Literature Prize and the Nordic Council Literature Prize.

Jonas Hunt

Jonas Hunt studied church music and early music at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, followed by several years of private studies in harpsichord with prof. Ketil Haugsand in Cologne.

He has worked extensively as a chamber musician and leader of the baroque ensemble Spielgarten, including at the Schütz Festspiel in Dresden 2014.

He trained as an orchestra conductor at Lund University and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and was conductor for Opera at Valdemars Slot 2006-18 and for the operetta company Polyhymnia 2018-19.

He is also a diligent composer and arranger and has written for the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Girls’ Choir, the Royal Danish Theatre, MidtVest Pigekor and others.

In the period 2012-22, Jonas Hunt was organist at Islev Church in Rødovre and head of Rødovre Choir School.

Since August 2022 he is cantor at Ribe Cathedral.

Jonas Rasmussen

Jonas Rasmussen (1992) is the conductor of Akademisk Kor Århus, Ungdomskoret Aarhus U and Ensemble Novum and holds degrees in choral conducting from the University of Cambridge, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus.

He also teaches classical choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and is very active as a composer and arranger. As a conductor, he has received numerous international accolades with his choirs, including victories at the World Choral Championships, Let the Peoples Sing, European Choir Games and most recently 1st prize at the 20th Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition for conductors. He has released a number of albums with his choirs. As a composer and arranger, Jonas has created works and arrangements that have been performed by choirs throughout Denmark.

Sophie Haagen

Sophie Haagen has sung since her teenage years, including in the DR Pigekoret. Studied in the USA (2017-18) and graduated in singing from the Royal Danish Academy of Music with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree (2019).

She trained as an opera singer at the Royal Danish Theatre Opera Academy (2021) and has since had leading roles.

Won 1st prize at the Copenhagen Lied Duo Competition with Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi.

Received a scholarship from the Léonie Sonning Music Foundation 2021.

Karen Bendix

Karen Bendix holds an MA in Music and Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen. in Music and Media Studies from the University of Copenhagen, as well as journalism and communication at DJH.

Since then, she has worked with the dissemination, marketing and communication of music, among other things:

She now works as a secretariat manager in KORLIV – the choir organization of the People’s Church.

Katrine Grarup Elbo

Katrine Grarup Elbo studied violin at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the soloist program at the Academy of Music, Southern Denmark. She made her solo debut at Castello del Valentino in Turin, Italy in 2018.

Katrine is a member of the sound collective We like We and the Berlin-based trio toechter, as well as the performance duo La Mia Bella Sorella with solo dancer Astrid Grarup Elbo.

Katrine released her solo album Fold Unfold in 2021 on the German label Sonic Pieces. She has also created music for theater, film, and commercials.

The composer group Eye of Destiny

The composer group Ödets Ögon is a composer group from the extreme music scene in Copenhagen consisting of composer and artist Sophie Z.S Suaning, Jesper Bagger Hviid and Hampus Wahlgren.

Together with musicians from the free jazz scene, experimental electronic music, classical music, and students from the Interdisciplinary Basic Course at Esbjerg School of Culture, they perform the work Resa i Ljus, where each beat is part of a historical and sonic circuit between fugue and chaos.

Kresten Osgood

Kresten Osgood (1976) is a drummer who graduated from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory’s musician program in 2002 and has worked there as a studio teacher since 2009. Together with a number of jazz musicians, he founded the record label ILK.

Kresten Osgood has been honored with numerous awards – including Steppeulv – Musician of the Year, Django d’Or Award, DJBFA Honorary Award, Ben Webster Award, Danish Radio Leo Mathiessen Award, Ken Gudman Award and P8 Jazz Award.

He has collaborated with many of the greatest Danish international jazz musicians and released over 100 albums in his own name and as a sideman.

Kristoffer Hyldig

Kristoffer Hyldig made his debut at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2010 after studying with Professor Niklas Sivelöv and Tove Lønskov.

He plays regularly in music associations and festivals as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist and is co-founder of Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen.

Since 2006, he has released recordings of lieder, chamber music and solo works by Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen, Bent Sørensen and Hindemith, among others, and has also been nominated for the P2 Music Prize.

As a soloist, he has performed with Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Phil and the Royal Danish Orchestra.

He received the jury’s special prize in the EU Piano Competition 2009 and has also been awarded several prizes, including Jakob Gade’s large scholarship, Léonie Sonning’s Music Foundation Scholarship and the Music Critics’ Circle Artist Award.

Laura Helene Hansen

Laura Helene Hansen is currently studying for her postgraduate degree at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

She obtained her master’s degree from the Opera Academy at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in 2024. She participated in the documentary series The Next Diva.

Laura’s background story arouses great interest both inside and outside the classical music world. In particular, she manages to arouse curiosity for opera among audiences who don’t normally seek out the genre, as she herself is an unexpected interpreter.

Much of Laura’s work and passion revolves around underrepresented composers, especially Danish women.

Lene Juhl

Lene Juhl is a video artist, digital set designer and creative concept developer.

Using video, light and digital media, Lene Juhl creates multidisciplinary immersive projects in performing arts, site-specific projects, spatial installations, exhibitions and concerts.

Lene Juhl’s artistic expression lies at the intersection of visual art, design and live performance.

She creates her own projects or collaborates with stage directors, composers, choreographers, writers and producers in Denmark and abroad.

Lene Juhl is a trained singer from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studied Master of Multimedia Arts at Aarhus University and has a Master in IT, Interaction Design and Multimedia from SDU.

Louise McClelland Jacobsen

Louise McClelland Jacobsen, soprano, studies from 2021 at the Opera Academy in Copenhagen with Professor Helene Gjerris and has also received coaching from renowned pianist Helmut Deutsch, Bo Skovhus, Anne Sofie von Otter and the esteemed Professor Yvi Jänicke in Hamburg.

Together with Kristian Riisager, piano, she won first prize in the Rued Langgaard Competition 2021.

In recent years, Louise McClelland has been a soloist with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen and Jönköping Sinfonietta as an oratorio and lieder singer.

She has also won awards and received several grants for her skills – most recently the Sonning Talent Prize in 2023 and P2 Talent of the Year in 2024.

Magnus Larsson

Magnus Larsson (b. 1992) graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He is also an organist, composer and radio host on DR P2. He works in opera, symphonic repertoire and contemporary music and has conducted leading orchestras in the Nordic region.

Debuted at the Royal Danish Theatre with Carl Nielsen’s Maskarade and has since assisted in Shostakovich’s The Nose. Has conducted productions at Gothenburg Opera, Wermland Opera and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He has performed Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Copenhagen Phil and Teater Sort/Hvid. Other projects include Per Nørgård’s Gilgamesh at Rued Langgaard Festival 2022. He has collaborated with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Prince’s Music Corps and Gävle Symphony Orchestra, among others. Winner of the Carl Nielsen Talent Prize (2022), the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize (2020) and the EMA First Prize in Prague (2017).

Michael Schønwandt

Michael Schønwandt, conductor, has had an impressive conducting career over the past 45 years, both in Denmark and on the biggest stages abroad.

He was chief conductor of the Royal Danish Orchestra and music director at the Royal Danish Theater, and he was principal guest conductor at the Danish National Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2000. As a guest conductor, he has worked with the Danish regional orchestras and since 2020 he has been Principal Guest Conductor at Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.

Abroad, he has conducted major orchestras across Europe such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Dresden Philharmonic.

In opera, he has also worked with the major European stages, including the Vienna State Opera, Opera de Paris, Royal Opera in Covent Garden and the Bayreuth Festival. Since 2015, Michael Schønwandt has been Chief Conductor of Opéra et Orchestre National de Montpellier in France. From 2021, Schønwandt has led the French youth symphony orchestra Orchestre Français des Jeunes.

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard (b. 1979) is a Danish composer and artist with an interdisciplinary practice spanning composition, sound art, performance, conceptual and visual art.

Løkkegaard is an associate professor and head of education at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. His works have been performed and published internationally and he is known for challenging the boundaries between sound, identity and society.

Løkkegaard often works with musical instruments not only as sound sources, but also as cultural markers embedded in different systems and hierarchies. He explores saturation as a strategy for transformation, where repetition and oversaturation can lead to new forms and realizations. He has been recognized for his ability to create safe spaces where shame and trauma can be dissolved through artistic practice.

Philip Schmidt-Madsen

Philip Schmidt-Madsen is organist at Sct. Matthæus Church in Vesterbro in Copenhagen.

He studied church music and organ at Det Kgl. Danish Academy of Music and Hochschule für Künste in Bremen and made his debut from the soloist class in 2013.

He has won numerous awards and has a large concert activity in both Denmark and Europe.

He is also choir producer, accompanist and guest conductor for Sankt Annæ Pigekor, artistic director of the concert company Pro Musica Copenhagen, and since 2013 he has taught liturgical and solo organ at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Danish Academy of Music.

Philip has recorded works by Langgaard and others on the record label Naxos and is on the board of the Langgaard Society.

The Prince's Music Corps

Prinsens Musikkorps is a brass band with percussion and consists of 16 professional musicians. The orchestra is based at Skive Barracks.

The band serves the Royal Danish House, the Danish Armed Forces and the Danish population. Therefore, the orchestra plays at official events as well as its own concerts for a wide audience.

The Prince’s Band is particularly known for its wide musical range. The orchestra plays atmospheric church concerts and festive New Year’s Eve concerts and masters many different genres

Signe Asmussen

Signe Asmussen, soprano, is a recurring soloist with all the country’s orchestras, and her great interest in chamber music and new compositional music has led to countless CD recordings and continuous, close collaboration with the country’s chamber ensembles:

Together with these ensembles, she has premiered several new works and music drama productions.

With repeated engagements at both the Royal Danish Theatre and the Danish National Opera and as a permanent member of Guido Paevatalu’s chamber opera company “GuidOpera” and Carol Conrad and Thomas Koppel’s “Operettekompagniet”, she has an extensive touring activity around all the country’s music houses and theaters.

Sophie Suaning

Sophie Suaning (b. 1992) is a visual artist, musician, producer and composer. She primarily writes works for bands, drums and choirs in extreme formats.

Her large paintings and very small graphic monotypes exist in a tension between the psychotic and the concrete scenic/iconic.

She believes that mindfully created works contain inherent experiences and realizations that exist outside of intentionality and rationality. Words must be armed and images must transcend.

South Jutland Symphony Orchestra

The South Jutland Symphony Orchestra is a touring regional orchestra with 65 permanent musicians and roots dating back to 1936.

The orchestra plays around 150 events a year: symphony concerts, church, school, high school and family concerts.

There are also concerts with local amateur choirs, annual joint concerts with the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Sinfonieorchester and concerts with high school choirs from across the region.

Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester plays at The Danish National Opera’s performances in the region and regularly participates in broadcasts on DR P2.

The orchestra also records CDs on an ongoing basis, including for the Danacord and Dacapo labels.

Thomas Husted Kirkegaard

Thomas Husted Kirkegaard (b. 1991) is a PhD in musicology and musicologist at Aarhus University. His research interests include Danish women composers around 1900 and he has written the first biography of Tekla Griebel Wandall (1866-1940).

His research also examines how esoteric currents such as theosophy influenced Danish composers in the early 1900s.

Thomas is editor-in-chief of the scientific series Danish Classical Music, editor of the professional journal Danish Yearbook of Musicology and board member of both the Danish Society for Music Research and the Swedish Journal of Music Research.

Youth Choir Aarhus U

Aarhus U is a mixed youth choir based in Aarhus Cathedral, consisting of 40 young singers aged 15-25. Under the direction of Jonas Rasmussen, the choir has established itself as a key player in the Danish vocal growth layer.

Known for its genre-bending approach to repertoire, the choir moves effortlessly between classical, rhythmic, folk and everything in between.

At the European Choir Games 2023 in Norrköping, Aarhus U won both the sacred music and pop/jazz categories and became the highest scoring choir in the entire competition.

Aarhus U has collaborated with prominent names such as The King’s Singers, Voces8, Tina Dickow, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra and Aarhus Jazz Orchestra. The choir has also performed live on DR, sung for H.M. Queen Margrethe and given concerts in all of Denmark’s 10 cathedrals.

On the recording front, the choir has made its mark with several releases. Most recently, Håbet er levende (2025), with 20 newly composed hymns by Marianne Søgaard that explore the borderland between tradition and renewal. In 2024, Fem får, fire geder was released with new Danish folk music arrangements by Cecilie Holst, and in 2023 the album Lucia på Dansk was released and became “Album of the week” on P2.

Ursula Andkjær Olsen

Ursula Andkjær Olsen (1970) made her debut in 2000 with Lulu’s songs and speeches (Arena and Lindhardt & Ringhof). in musicology and philosophy from KU and TU Berlin.

She graduated from Forfatterskolen (1997-99), where she later taught and was rector from 2019 to 2023. She has written as a music critic for Dansk Musiktidsskrift, Berlingske and Politiken, and as a columnist for Information. From 2013 to 2016, she was editor of the journal Kritik.

She is a co-founder of the climate activist group Authors See Green and has been active in the group since 2020. She has received numerous awards and since 2017 has received the Danish Arts Foundation’s lifetime achievement award and most recently an award in 2021 for a collaboration with visual artist Sophia Kalkau.
She has been a member of the Danish Academy since 2018 and is a central voice in Danish literature and cultural criticism.

The winners of the Langgaard Competition 2025

Denisa Irina Pervulescu, pianist , was this year’s winner of the Langgaard Competition 2025. She is in her 5th year at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Denisa Irina Pervulescu impressed both the jury and the audience with her extraordinary empathy and personal interpretation of Langgaard’s piano works. And she has superior technical ability.

She herself said about playing Langgaard’s works:

“I chose to play these pieces because I find myself in them. I found a truly alive, honest, pure, and raw side of myself. Through Langgaard’s music I can express feelings and emotions that are alive inside me, but that I cannot show in the day-to-day life. I feel that I play with all my heart, body, and consciousness; not only performing piano pieces, but performing art.“

Mikkel Andreassen

Mikkel Andreassen (born 1966) grew up in Krogager and graduated from Vestjysk Musikkonservatorium with a church music diploma in 1991.

He has been employed at Løgumkloster and Hørsholm Churches and has been organist and cantor at Vor Frelsers Church in Esbjerg since 2000.

As an organ soloist, he focuses on late Romantic and modern repertoire and is known for his expressive interpretations and sonority. He has given concerts in Germany, Italy, Estonia and the Faroe Islands. From 2017-2025 he was a teacher and coordinator at the Academy of Music, Southern Denmark.

Mikkel Andreassen is also active as a composer, especially of choral and organ music, and is a member of the Danish Composers’ Society.

Our Savior's Church Choir, Esbjerg

The choir of Vor Frelsers Kirkes Kirkes is a rich mix of conservatory students, trained singers and musicians and well-singing amateurs. The choir is an important part of the rich musical expression of Our Savior’s Church.

The choir is the church’s service choir and participates in various ways at high masses, church services, music services and concerts throughout the year. In addition, they give concerts throughout the region – and the country.

The choir’s repertoire ranges from Renaissance to contemporary compositional music, with a special emphasis on Romantic and contemporary music.

In 2012, the choir released a CD with a complete recording of Rachmaninov’s Vespers Op. 37,

In the annual “New Songs” project, the choir premieres new choral music composed by past and present members of the choir.

The choir is led by Mikkel Andreassen, and is often praised for its captivating and expressive performances.

Nils Erik Måseidvåg

Norwegian conductor Nils Erik Måseidvåg is one of Scandinavia’s most promising young conductors and has already worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic and DR Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2023 he has been assistant conductor at Musikkollegium Winterthur, one of Switzerland’s leading symphony orchestras, and is in the process of establishing an international career. As a freelancer, he has successfully guest conducted orchestras such as Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Kringkastingsorkestret and Orquestra do Algarve.

He has also led opera and ballet productions with the Kristiansund Opera, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.

In 2018-19 he was assistant conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, working closely with Edward Gardner and Juanjo Mena.

His talent has been recognized with several awards, including the Léonie Sonning Talent Award in 2020 and the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz Orchestra Prize in 2023.

Måseidvåg studied conducting at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen under Giordano Bellincampi and Michael Schønwandt and at the Norwegian Academy of Music under Ole Kristian Ruud.

He has also received invaluable inspiration through international masterclasses with conductors such as Johannes Schlaefli, Manfred Honeck, Jorma Panula, Paavo Järvi and Mariss Jansons.