Michala Petri (born July 7, 1958) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

player. Her debut as a soloist was in 1969. She is the step-granddaughter of Danish actress

Ingeborg Brams Ingeborg Brams (; 9 December 1921 – 14 October 1989) was a Danish film, radio, television and theatre actress. She was born in Hobro, Denmark and died in Denmark. She appeared in 11 films between 1941 and 1957 plus several TV and radio pl ...

Biography

Petri, who began playing the recorder at the age of three, is noted for her virtuosity and versatility across a wide range of styles, from the

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

repertoire of the height of the instrument's popularity to contemporary works written particularly for her. She first played on Danish Radio at the age of five, and her debut performance as a soloist was at Copenhagen's Tivoli concert hall in 1969 when she was 11. She has performed premiers of dozens of works, by

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...

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and

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, as well as

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, Erik Haumann,

Hans Kunstovny Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

Erling Bjerno Erling D. Bjerno (1929–2019) is a Danish composer and organist. He trained as an organist and was for years 1967–1996 employed by Ansgar Church in Aalborg Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Ode ...

Thomas Koppel Thomas Koppel (27 April 1944 – 25 February 2006) was a Danish classical music and avant-garde popular composer and musician. His father, Herman David Koppel (1908-1998), a composer and pianist of Jewish origin, fled the Nazis with his f ...

Ove Benzen Ove or OVE may refer to *Ove (given name) *Ové, a surname *Ove Peak in Antarctica *''A Man Called Ove (novel)'', a novel by Fredrik Backman *'' A Man Called Ove'', a 2015 Swedish film based on the novel *Danish Organisation for Renewable Energy (O ...

Vagn Holmboe Vagn Gylding Holmboe (, 20 December 1909 – 1 September 1996) was a Danish composer and teacher. Life Vagn Holmboe was born in Horsens, Jutland, into a merchant family of dedicated amateur musicians. Both parents played the piano. His fath ...

Piers Hellawell Piers Hellawell (born 14 July 1956) is a British composer and professor of composition, currently residing in Northern Ireland. Biography Hellawell grew up in England and studied composition with James Wood. and later Nicholas Maw at the Univ ...

Gary Kulesha Gary Kulesha (born 22 August 1954) is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (1988� ...

Asger Lund Christiansen Asger Lund Christiansen (1927–1998) was a Danish cellist and composer. He trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, graduating in 1946. Alongside Bløndal Erling Bengtsson, he was his generation's most recognized Danish cellist. In 195 ...

, Egil Harder,

Michael Berkeley Michael Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Baron Berkeley of Knighton, (born 29 May 1948) is an English composer, broadcaster on music and member of the House of Lords. Early life Berkeley is the eldest of the three sons of Elizabeth Freda (née Bernstein ...

, Butch Lacy, Miklos Maros,

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, Jens Bjerre, Henning Christiansen,

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, Axel Borup Jørgensen, and Gunnar Berg. She performed

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's Csardas with comedian-pianist

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at his eightieth birthday. She called that by far the hardest challenge of her professional career. She married

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

nist Lars Hannibal in 1992. Although they divorced in 2010 they still perform together and have given over 1,500 concerts and made numerous recordings. Together they founded the record company OUR Recordings. Petri has taken a particular interest in the combination of recorder and guitar, collaborating with guitarists including

Göran Söllscher Göran Söllscher (born 31 December 1955) is a Swedish award-winning virtuoso classical guitarist known for his broad range of musical interpretations, ranging from Bach to the Beatles. Söllscher's international career began during his years of ed ...

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and

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. One notable collaboration of hers was two albums of sonatas by

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

and G. F. Handel, with

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...

on harpsichord; she has also recorded with the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, the

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

, and

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman ( he, פנחס צוקרמן, born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zuk ...

, among many others. Petri studied with Prof. Ferdinand Conrad at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

, partly because she was still too young to become a full-time student in Denmark. She gave a debut recital for BBC radio in March 1976, and the BBC released a recorded recital in 1977. Leo Black's sleeve note for this recording remarks, "one realises what can happen when a mighty talent starts young enough." Her mother is Hanne Petri, who studied at the

Royal Danish Academy of Music The Royal Danish Academy of Music, or Royal Danish Conservatory of Music ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium), in Copenhagen is the oldest professional institution of musical education in Denmark as well as the largest, with approxima ...

, and her brother, David Petri, won the Danish "Young Musician of the Year Award" in 1978. He is a cellist. Both have recorded with Michala as The Petri Trio (or Michala Trio). In 1979 she began an exclusive recording contract with

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

that lasted until 1987; she is currently recording on the RCA Red Seal label.

Partial discography

*''Michala Petri Recorder Recital,'' BBC Records (1977). Works by van Eyck, Castello, Telemann, Heberle and Berio. *''Los Angeles Street Concerto'' - Petri plays Koppel * ''Souvenir ''with Lars Hannibal * ''Moonchild's Dream'' with the English Chamber Orchestra * ''Scandinavian Moods ''with the London Philharmonic Orchestra * ''The Ultimate Recorder Collection ''with Those above, The

Westminster Abbey Choir Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers (i.e. only choirboys attend the school). It is loca ...

, Keith Jarrett, and Moscow Virtuoso (on separate tracks) * Grieg ''

Holberg Suite The ''Holberg Suite'', Op. 40, more properly ''From Holberg's Time'' (Norwegian: ''Fra Holbergs tid''), subtitled "Suite in olden style" ( no, Suite i gammel stil, links=no, italics=no), is a suite of five movements based on eighteenth-century ...

'', ''Melody & Dances ''with the English Chamber Orchestra * ''

Greensleeves "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580,Frank Kidson, ''English Fol ...

'' with Hanne and David Petri * ''Bach: Flute Sonatas'' (1992) played on recorder with

on harpsichord * ''Bach: Flute Sonatas'' (2019) played on recorder with

Mahan Esfahani Mahan Esfahani ( fa, ماهان اصفهانی) (born 1984 in Tehran) is an Iranian-American harpsichordist. Education Esfahani received his first guidance on the piano from his father before exploring an interest in the harpsichord as a teenag ...

on harpsichord and

Hille Perl Hille Perl (born ''Hildegard Perl'' on 9 March 1965, in Bremen) is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone. She is considered to be one of the world's finest viola da gamba players, specializing in solo and ensemble music of ...

on viola da gamba.

Awards

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

(1981) * Knight -

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

1995 *

Deutscher Schallplattenpreis The Deutscher Schallplattenpreis was a prize that the awarded from 1963 through 1992. Its successor is the Echo Music Prize Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recog ...

1997 * H. C. Lumbye Prize 1998 * Wilhelm Hansen Music Prize 1998 *

Léonie Sonning Music Prize The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, or Sonning Award, which is recognized as Denmark's highest musical honor, is given annually to an international composer or musician. It was first awarded in 1959 to composer Igor Stravinsky. Laureates are no ...

2000, she was the third Dane to win this prize, after

Mogens Wöldike Mogens Wöldike (5 July 1897, Copenhagen – 20 October 1988, Copenhagen) was a Danish conductor, choirmaster, organist, and scholar known for his interpretation of music from the Baroque and Classical periods. His son-in-law was the Haydn s ...

(1976) and

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; born 13 July 1932) is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein o ...

(1996) Petri Winning ''Léonie Sonning Music Prize'' 2000 Léonie Sonning Music Prize Laureates

References

* Program notes from various CDs, Including Philips CD #420 897-2 "Greensleeves"

External links

Michala Petri's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Michala Danish performers of early music Classical flautists Recorder players Danish classical musicians Danish flautists 1958 births Living people Recipients of the Léonie Sonning Music Prize Women flautists Women performers of early music Women recorder players