| Curriculum | Life Story |
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I was born in Esbjerg, Denmark on December 25, 1975 and grew up in a suburb called Hjerting.
Hjerting is a lot older than Esbjerg, but Esbjerg which grew quickly eventually merged with Hjerting.
Hjerting is a great place which I love very much. My parents' house is close to the sea and countryside and there are only 7 km (4.3 miles) to the center of Esbjerg. I began playing the cello when I was 6 years old at the Music School of Esbjerg. My teacher, Peter Oest, asked me to play in a concert, and afterwards I was so happy that I wanted to go on stage again. When the school orchestra was founded, I began playing there. This gave me the opportunity to perform solo with an orchestra at a very early age. Among other pieces, I played Breval's celloconcerto in D-major. We started touring with the orchestra in Norway and Sweden where I also performed as a soloist. At the age of 12, the Academy of Music in Esbjerg began calling for me when they needed extra cellists. Playing with very good musicians in stringquartet and orchestra was a great experience. When I was 14, I was admitted to the Musical Preparation Education in Esbjerg which provided the basic knowledge for admittance to the Academy. At the same time, I was attending high school at Esbjerg Gymnasium where I earned A-level degrees in Music, Mathematics and Physics. At the age of 18, I was admitted to the Academy of Music in Esbjerg. But after only one year, I transferred to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. When at the Royal Academy, I began playing in a pianotrio called The Gefion Trio. Members included: violinist, Erik Heide and pianist Jan Beck Eriksson. Together we played a lot of concerts both in and outside Copenhagen. We played in the Concerthall of Tivoli, in Louisana Museum of Modern Art, at the Copenhagen Chambermusic Festival, and we received the Audience Reward in the Danish Radios Chambermusic competition. 40% of the audience had voted us the best out of 12 ensembles. In June 1998, I played with a pianoquartet at the return banquet given by the Japanese Emperor in order to thank for his visit in Denmark. We performed during the banquet and received a lot of compliments from the Emperor for our professional playing and behavior. In May 1999 I took my final Graduate Diploma examination and received an 'A'. I played the Elgar celloconcerto in e-minor, Debussy's cellosonata, Poul Rovsing Olsen's cellosonata and Bach's 4th cello suite. October the 3rd 1999, I was invited to perform Elgar's cello concerto with the Clear Lake Symphony of Houston, Texas. This was my first visit to the United States. My stay was sponsored by the Houston division of Haldor Topsoe. From October 1999 till June 2000, I studied in Tel Aviv, Israel under the Israeli cellist Hillel Zori. There I won 1st prize in the chambermusic competition of the Samuel Rubin Academy. In the end of 2000 I began freelancing in Copenhagen and had contracts with both Denmarks Radio National Symphony Orchestra and the Royal National Opera Orchestra. I performed Elgar's Celloconcerto with Studentermusikforeningens Orchestra in 2001 and played Dvorak's cello concerto with the Amadeus Ensemble in 2002 and have played Bachs cellosuites in churches all over Denmark. |