The Grieg Academy ( no, Griegakademiet) is a disputed historical term used to refer to the higher education music programs in
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
(birthplace of composer
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
), as well as various collaborations across music institutions in Bergen. However, since 2016, due to mergers between several Norwegian institutions, the structure of Grieg Academy has changed and its remaining components are expected to be a doctoral research school (Grieg Research School in Interdisciplinary Music Studies) and various research groups. Specifically, this is due to a merger between the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
’s Faculty of Humanities with the
Bergen Academy of Art and Design
Bergen Academy of Art and Design ( no, Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen) or KHiB was one of two independent and accredited scientific institutions of higher learning in the visual arts and design in Norway (The other is Oslo National Academy o ...
, as well as a nearly simultaneous merger between
Bergen University College
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...
and two other university colleges in western Norway:
Stord/Haugesund University College and
Sogn og Fjordane University College
Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway ''(Vestlandet)''. It is located in the county of Vestland, surrounding the Sognefjord, the largest/longest fjord in Norway. The district of Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestra ...
to become, in January 2017, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL) The music programs across HVL briefly became the largest music department in western Norway in terms of the number of full time teachers, but this has rapidly changed due to an unofficial policy of not replacing retiring teachers.
Due to an array of mergers, the background of "Grieg Academy" is complex. One prominent institution, which until recently has referred to itself in English as the "Grieg Institute" (or "Griegakademiet - Institutt for musikk" in Norwegian) is the music
conservatory in Bergen, and a department of the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
(UiB). However, Norway's oldest music degree program,
[Noralf Mork, The Fate of Innovation: A Social History of Creativity and Curriculum Control (PhD dissertation, University of Brighton, 2008)] and the institution that has for the longest been called "Griegakademiet" in Norwegian - and "Grieg Academy" in English - is the music education department incorporated into
Bergen University College
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...
(HiB), which in 2017 becomes part of Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. "Griegakademiet" has appeared for many years in official documents and on street signs for all entrances as well as hallways to the former music department of HiB (in Landås), which was the largest music education program in Norway (with alumni of over 1000 music teachers), offering bachelor's and master's degrees and teacher certification. HiB is also the "Grieg Academy" that in 2002 hosted one of the world's largest
music education conferences. The UiB music department, in contrast to the HiB music department, used to be called the "Bergen Conservatory," and now has a slightly larger number of full-time music faculty, emphasizes elite performance studies rather than music teacher education, and is more centrally-located in downtown Bergen.
Significance of bi-institutional context
Although the scenario of a shared name might appear to suggest competing interests (and indeed there was resistance to a full merger proposed in the 1990s), several instructors have taught music concurrently at both institutions, and some signs of a healthy partnership have been evident between musicians and programs at these two schools which have rather different emphases. According to the history explained in Norwegian on the Grieg Academy-UiB's official website, “towards the end of the 1980s, the conservatory faced major restructuring, and a government report recommended closer cooperation with the University of Bergen. In the autumn of 1995, Nina Grieg's 150th birthday and 90 years after Torgrim Castberg first opened the Music Academy, the Conservatoire was founded as an ‘institute’ at the University of Bergen, and ‘Grieg Academy’ was established as a ceiling (or umbrella ...) of all music education programs under both the University of Bergen and Bergen University College.” Also, according to a 1996 report from the website of University of Bergen, “The Grieg Academy is a partnership between the University and Bergen University College who has since earlier been offering a major in music education. This academic partnership rests on three pillars: music pedagogy at the former teachers college and applied/creative music and musicology at the University.” Due to both marketing strategies and inter-institutional politics, the Grieg Academy-UiB has in recent years increasingly taken a public stance implying that it is "''the''" Grieg Academy, yet for those who know this history it remains undeniably clear that "the Grieg Academy" has actually referred to multiple institutions,
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
and
Bergen University College
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...
, with some forms of collaboration. In recent years, the folk music school Ole Bull Academy in nearby
Voss
Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...
(named after renowned violin virtuoso
Ole Bull), has also been to some extent brought under the Grieg Academy umbrella. The name Grieg may be traced to Norway's most famous composer
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...
, a native son of
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
, and the tradition of naming music schools after famous composers is evident across Europe, including the
Sibelius Academy
The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...
,
Liszt Academy
The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...
, and
Mozarteum
Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...
.
Grieg Academy-UiB
The Music department of the
University of Bergen
The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...
(UiB), since 2017 incorporated into the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, was founded in
1905
As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia ( Shostakovich's 11th Symphony ...
as the Bergen Musikkonservatorium (Bergen Music Conservatory) by T. Castberg. It offers 4-year undergraduate programs in
Performance,
Composition
Composition or Compositions may refer to:
Arts and literature
*Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography
*Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...
and
Pedagogy
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
/Music Education, and also 2-year Masters programs in Performance, Composition and
Ethnomusicology. The Academy maintains a population of approximately 160 students, A permanent staff of 25 and numerous part-time faculty. The Griegakademiet-Institutt for musikk has also partnered itself with two of the ''elite'' bands in the
Hordaland
Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...
area: the
brass band Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag and the
wind band
A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...
''
Dragefjellets Musikkorps'' (Bergen Symphonic Band). Many faculty members are also members and principal players of the
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Notable faculty include professor
(
bassoon and
orchestral
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ...
studies), professor (II)
Gro Schibsted Sandvik (
flute), guitarist
Stein-Erik Olsen, professor Brynjulf Stige (music therapist), Tom Solomon (ethnomusicologist), and professor
Harald Bjørkøy (
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
). Alumni from the Academy include
Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journe ...
,
Harald Sæverud
Harald Sigurd Johan Sæverud (17 April 1897 – 27 March 1992) was a Norwegian composer. He is most known for his music to Henrik Ibsen's ''Peer Gynt'', '' Rondo Amoroso'', and the ''Ballad of Revolt'' ( no, Kjempeviseslåtten). Sæverud ...
, and
Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen
Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen (born 11 January 1964, in Oslo) is a Norwegian contemporary composer.
Life
Aagaard-Nilsen grew up in Kabelvåg on Lofoten in northern Norway. From 1986 to 1990 he studied at the Bergen Conservatory of Music (now known ...
. The department's
music therapy
Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...
program, Grieg Academy Center for Music Therapy (GAMUT) is especially well-known, and attracts many postgraduate students and funding for PhD research projects.
Grieg Academy-HiB
The original ''Grieg Academy''- the music department in the Faculty of Education at
Bergen University College
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...
(HiB/HVL) - was the very first institution in Norway to offer a music degree
(established in
Landås
Landås is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Landås is located by the western side of the Ulriken mountain massif, from southeast of Haukeland University Hospital to the neighborhood of Nattland almost further sou ...
in 1958 by Ivar Benum), and the first to offer a postgraduate degree in music education, and was the nation's largest
music education degree program until recent years, with studies primarily for those who plan to become music teachers, music teacher educators, or arts researchers and
cultural policy-makers. Although its emphasis is on music education rather than performance studies, the faculty includes performers, composers, conductors, and musicologists, and it has been affiliated with arts research centers for which PhD students are frequently in residence. Notable music Professors and Lecturers at HiB include Thorolf Krüger (educational theorist),
David G. Hebert
David G. Hebert (; born 1972) is a musicologist and comparative educationist, employed as Professor of Music at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Bergen, Norway), where he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research gro ...
(sociomusicologist), Tiri Bergesen Schei (choral conductor and music
phenomenologist), Catharina Christophersen (educational researcher), Jostein Stalheim (composer), and Egil Haugland (guitarist and guitar maker).
Notable alumni of the HiB Griegakademiet at
Landås
Landås is a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. Landås is located by the western side of the Ulriken mountain massif, from southeast of Haukeland University Hospital to the neighborhood of Nattland almost further sou ...
include renowned brass band conductor and arranger Tom Brevik, Opera Bergen producer and director Anne Randine Øverby, choral conductor Per Oddvar Hildre, award-winning jazz pianist Dag Arnesen, and several of Norway's most renowned songwriters and rock musicians, such as the leaders of
Kaizers Orchestra
Kaizers Orchestra is a Norwegian alternative rock band formed on 1 January 2000. They are notable for being among the first non-black metal Norwegian artists singing in their native language to become popular beyond Scandinavia.
In 2012, the gr ...
and
Odd Nordstoga
Odd Nordstoga (born 10 December 1972) is a folk singer, musician, actor and editor from Vinje in Telemark, Norway. In 2004, he went from relative obscurity to becoming the country's biggest selling recording artist, with the phenomenal success o ...
, and the school is often given some credit for the recent “
Bergen Wave
The Bergen Wave (in Norwegian: ''Bergensbølgen'') is an expression often used by Norwegian media regarding the city of Bergen, Norway as a platform for the development of modern music, illustrating a period in time of a new generation of artists ...
" of popular music. Professional opera singers to have come from the HiB/HVL music department, before seeking additional training in Norway and abroad, include Lise Davidsen and Ingvild Schultze-Florey. In the fields of music academia and music industry/management, notable graduates from HiB-Grieg Academy's music education programs include: Associate Professor Tom Eide Osa, Associate Professor Steinar Saetre, Associate Professor Ketil Thorgersen, CEO Gisle Johnsen,
and international festival manager/jazz pianist Dr. Oystein Kvinge.
Choir conductor Maria Gamborg Helbekkmo became Emeritus Professor in 2012. Torunn Bakken Hauge (rhythmic music pedagogue) retired in 2018. In 2019, a Full Professor,
Njål Vindenes (guitarist), resigned in protest (with much media attention) as the music programs continued to be radically downsized, worsened by a merger and restructure, to become less than half their original size. The department is located on Floor 4 of a new 51,000 square metre building constructed in 2014 for Bergen University College, in
Kronstad, just south of downtown Bergen. The HiB Faculty of Education currently has 2300 students and 150 staff members (around 17 of whom are full-time in music at Griegakademiet), and music is the oldest (and formerly, largest) graduate program offered by the Faculty, which is also known for its strong programs in drama, children's literature and other arts. The Faculty offers a PhD degree in education, and additional PhD programs have been under development, as indicated in HiB's strategic plan. According to its website, “Grieg Academy, Bergen University College has exchange agreements with educational institutions in Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, England, Germany, USA, Australia, Greece and Austria.”
See also
*
Education in Norway
Education in Norway is mandatory for all children aged from 6 to 16. Schools are typically divided into two divisions: primary and lower secondary schooling. The majority of schools in Norway are municipal, where local governments fund and manage ...
*
Music of Norway
Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and pil ...
References
External links
Official website (University of Bergen)Network of higher education music programs in western Norway
{{authority control
Grieg Academy The Grieg Academy ( no, Griegakademiet) is a disputed historical term used to refer to the higher education music programs in Bergen, Norway (birthplace of composer Edvard Grieg), as well as various collaborations across music institutions in Bergen ...
Education in Bergen
1905 establishments in Norway