Initially taught the cello by his father, John, Truls Mørk continued his studies with Frans Helmerson, Heinrich Schiff and Natalia Schakowskaya. His numerous awards to date include the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition (1982), Cassado Cello Competition in Florence (1983), the Unesco Prize at the European Radio-Union competition in Bratislava (1983) and the Naumberg Competition in New York (1986).
Truls Mørk appears as soloist with major orchestras throughout the world including Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw, Cleveland, Leipzig Gewandhaus (at the 2001 BBC proms), London Symphony Orchestra (at the 2002 BBC proms), BBC Symphony, NDR Hamburg (both in Germany and on a substantial European tour), Hessischer Rundfunk (both in Frankfurt and at the Rheingau Festival), Gothenburg Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (with whom he toured Europe), Pittsburgh (with whom he toured Asia and Australia), Swedish Radio (with whom he toured the US) and Minnesota. Last season, he performed the world premiere of Witold Penderecki's Concerto for Three Cellos with NHK Symphony under Charles Dutoit with Boris Pergamenshikov and Hanna Chang. He regularly collaborates with such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paavo Berglund, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, Neeme and Paavo Järvi, Sir Simon Rattle, Osmo Vanska, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Franz Welser-Möst.
This season, his engagements include performances of the Schumann Concerto under Wolfgang Sawallisch, the Honegger concerto on tour with Zurich Tonhalle, his debut with Munich Philharmonic (both orchestras will be under the baton of David Zinman) and concerts with Cleveland, Los Angeles, Oslo, St Petersburg, Rotterdam and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2003/04 he will be giving two world premieres. The first will be at the Alte Oper Frankfurt of a concerto by Matthias Pintscher with the Orchestre de Paris, under Christoph Eschenbach. He will also present the world premiere of a concerto by Halflidi Halgrimsson, co-commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony and Scottish Chamber Orchestras.
A dedicated chamber musician, Truls Mørk is the founder and Artistic Director of the International Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger as well as appearing in recital throughout the world. In Spring 2000 he was the Artistic Director of a highly successful four-concert mini-series which took place in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam over an entire weekend, entitled "Sixty Degrees North", featuring works by composers from Helsinki, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Oslo. At the beginning of this season he very successfully toured Schubert and Tchaikovsky trios with Gil Shaham and Yefim Bronfman, including performances in Chicago, New York, Detroit and Atlanta. They will perform Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zuerich under Dvaid Zinman in 2004. Further plans for tours of this Trio are planned for 2005/6.
Truls Mørk is an exclusive Virgin Classics artist and has recorded many of the great cello concertos including: Shostakovich Concerti (Jansons/London Philharmonic) which was nominated for a Grammy; Dvorak Concerto (Jansons/Oslo Philharmonic); Britten Cello Symphony and Elgar Concerto (Rattle/CBSO); Miaskovsky Concerto and Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante (Paavo Jarvi/CBSO), Aaron J Kernis/Coloured Field he recorded in Minnesota. Grieg Cello sonata/string quartet was recorded at Troldhaugen, Edvard Griegs home, a recording that has achieved several awards.
Truls Mørk won a Grammy Award in 2002 for his Britten Cello Suites.
Truls Mørk plays on a rare Domenico Montagnana (1723) bought for him by SR Bank in Norway.
Click here for interview. |
|