Kjell Bækkelund (6 May 1930 – 13 May 2004) was a Norwegian classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

Biography

Bækkelund was born in

Oslo, Norway Oslo ( or ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a Counties of Norway, county and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a populat ...

. He was the son of Martin Bækkelund (1903–66) and Rallik Antonette Hansen (1904–94). He was a student at the Oslo Conservatory of Music from 1935 until 1944. His brother Rolf was a violinist and conductor. Bækkelund debuted as a prodigy in 1938 with the

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra The Oslo Philharmonic () is a Norwegian symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra traces its roots to the Philharmonic Society founded in 1847 and the Christiania Musical Association co-founded by Edvard Grieg in 1871, and was esta ...

at the age of eight. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he trained with Gottfrid Boon (1886-1981) in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. In 1953 Bækkelund won first prize in the Scandinavian Musicians' Festival held at

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

. That same year, he was granted the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award for young professional musicians of outstanding promise. Subsequently, he studied for three years with

Ilona Kabos Ilona Kabos (7 December 189327 May 1973) was a Hungarian-British pianist and teacher. Biography Kabos was born Ilona Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Budapest in 1893 (some sources give her year of birth as 1894, 1898 or 1902). She studied at the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He followed with study under the direction of German classical pianists, Hans Richter-Haaser and

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist, teacher and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interp ...

. From the beginning of the 1960s, he performed several worldwide concert tours with the main emphasis of his repertoire consisting of baroque and the classic-romantic music.

References

External Links

* * 1930 births 2004 deaths Musicians from Oslo Spellemannprisen winners 20th-century Norwegian classical pianists {{classical-pianist-stub