Jonas Brunvoll (3 August 1920 – 6 April 1982) was a Norwegian opera singer and actor.

Personal life

Brunvoll was born in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

; the son of Jonas Brunvoll and Kirsten Sørsdal, and was a brother of Gunnar Brunvoll. During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany he was involved in

civil resistance Civil resistance is political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and coercion: i ...

. He was first arrested in October 1941, and held at Bredtveit Prison for a short period. He was then arrested in January 1942 and held at Møllergata 19 until 4 March, when he was incarcerated at

Grini Grini is a district in northeastern Bærum, Norway. Concentration camp The name Grini is best known from the concentration camp of the same name, but this camp lay further west and had no actual connection to the Grini area. History The name ...

until 20 March, and then transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. In the memoir book ''3 fra Sachsenhausen'' fellow prisoner and newspaper editor Olav Larssen recalls cultural activities in the camp, and mentions that Brunvoll would sing in such a way that prisoners forgot their surroundings, both at Grini and Sachsenhausen. His parents were also sent to German concentration camps, his mother to Ravensbrück and

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, and his father to Sachsenhausen.

Career

Brunvoll made his debut as opera singer in 1941 as Colline in ''La Boheme'' at Trøndelag Teater. His debut concert in 1949 was attended by the Prime Minister of Norway, Einar Gerhardsen (and his wife) and the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Halvard Lange Halvard Manthey Lange (16 September 1902 – 19 May 1970) was a Norwegian politician and diplomat, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1946-1963 and again from 1963-1965. He was also the longest serving Foreign Minister to date, ha ...

. Both Gerhardsen and Lange were fellow prisoners from Sachsenhausen. From 1950 to 1958, he was artistic director at the Norwegian Opera Company, which he had co-founded together with his brother in 1950. He was assigned at

Den Norske Opera The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet ( no, Den Norske Opera & Ballett, links=no) is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisati ...

from 1958. Some of his major opera roles were Colline “La Boheme” (Puccini), Mefisto “Faust” (Gounod), Zuniga “Carmen” (Bizet), Figaro “Figaros Bryllup” (Mozart), Jeppe “Jeppe” (G. Tveitt), Leporello “Don Juan” (Mozart), Papageno “Tryllefløyten” (Mozart), Don Basilio “Barbereren i Sevilla” (Rossini), Nick Shadow “The Rake’s Progress” (Stravinskij). He worked as actor at

Riksteatret Riksteatret (English: National Traveling Theater) is a Norwegian touring theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or ima ...

from 1972. He participated in several films, including ''

Døden i gatene ''Døden i gatene'' ( en, Death in the Streets}) is a 1970 Norwegian drama film directed by Arnljot Berg, starring Grynet Molvig Ann-Kristin "Grynet" Molvig (born 23 December 1942 in Rygge) is a Norwegian actress and singer. She made her name ...

'' from 1970, ''

Rallarblod ''Blood of the Railroad Workers'' ( no, Rallarblod}) is a 1979 Norway, Norwegian drama film directed by Erik Solbakken (director), Erik Solbakken, starring Nils Ole Oftebro and Ragnhild Hilt. A group of ''rallare'' (migratory rail road workers) a ...

'' from 1979 and '' Arven'' from 1979, where he played "The Priest". He also participated in the 1972 TV production ''Fjeldeventyret'' for

Fjernsynsteatret Fjernsynsteatret was a department of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) which produced plays for television broadcasting. It opened in 1960 (after about a year of experimental operation), and operated until 1990, when a major reorganisati ...

, where he played the role of a district sheriff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunvoll, Jonas 1920 births 1982 deaths Musicians from Bærum 20th-century Norwegian male opera singers Norwegian bass-baritones Norwegian male stage actors Norwegian male film actors Norwegian resistance members Bredtveit concentration camp survivors Grini concentration camp survivors Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors Norwegian male television actors 20th-century Norwegian male actors