HÅKON AUSTBØ
In 1974 the
Daily
Telegraph, London, already characterised Håkon Austbø as the "possessor
of
towering talent worthy of international recognition". Since then,
critics
from the Carnegie Hall, New York, to the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, have
given
this extraordinary artist rave reviews. Due to his unusual versatility
and the
originality of his repertoire, Håkon Austbø has won a coveted position
in
today's world of music.
Of Norwegian origin, Mr. Austbø performed extensively in his homeland
before
continuing his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and the Ecole Normale
de
Musique. In 1970 he was the first non-French to win the "Concours
National
de la Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes" in Paris, and in 1971 he
gained international attention when an unanimous jury awarded him the
first
prize of the Olivier Messiaen Competition for Contemporary Music in
Royan,
France.
Håkon Austbø furthered his studies at the Juilliard School, New York,
at the
Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Munich, and in London. He was prize
winner of
the international Munich competition (in piano duo with Marina Horak,
1974), of
the Ravel Competition in Paris (1975), and, as a member of Trio du
Nord, of the
UNESCO International Rostrum, Bratislava (1975).
Based in the Netherlands for more than 30 years, Mr. Austbø has
recently
returned to his native country and continues enjoying an extensive solo
career
throughout Europe, America and Asia. His recordings
for
various labels have received international acclaim. In the CD field, he
brought
out excerpts from Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux on Fidelio and the 10 Skryabin sonatas on
SIMAX. The latter was
acclaimed as a reference recording by Gramophone Magazine and received
the
Norwegian Grammy award in 1990. Two years later Mr. Austbø received the
same
award for another SIMAX recording with the Norwegian cellist Truls
Mørk, and
again in 1995 for Messiaen'sVingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus. This recording, part of a NAXOS project including
the
complete Messiaen piano music, was also chosen by Classic CD as the
best
available version of the work. The next item in this project, the
complete Catalogue
d'Oiseaux coupled with Petites
Esquisses d'Oiseaux, was awarded
the Edison prize 1998 for the best solo
recording. The cycle
is now complete, grouping the rest of the piano works on two single
CD's.
Mr Austbø's discography further includes a Schumann recording for
Vanguard
Classics and the Norse melodrama EddaDa with the actress Juni Dahr, the complete
Grieg Lyric pieces, and new
recordings of Janacek and Brahms. A complete recording of the Debussy
piano
works is presently being issued by SIMAX as well as the complete songs
by
Messiaen with soprano Ingrid Kappelle by Brilliant Classics.
Mr. Austbø received the prize of the Norwegian music critics in 1989
and was
chosen "Performer of the Year" in Norway in 1992. In 2003 he received
the prestigious Grieg prize. He teaches
piano
major at the Amsterdam conservatory and is moreover first vice
president of the
international Skryabin Society, Moscow. As a propagator or Skryabin's
work, he
is the initiator and artistic director of the LUCE-project that offers
a unique
realisation of the colour part in the symphonic poem Prometheus.
