Janne Fredens & Søren Rastogi
Biography Janne Fredens & Søren Rastogi
Janne Fredens
The cellist Janne Fredens is one of the most active Danish chamber musicians. As such, she has performed in Australia, Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Belgium and large parts of the United States. In addition, she has participated in countless radio and TV transmissions, primarily in Danish Radio and TV, but also in ABC Radio Australia, MRD Music Summer and Yomiri Television Japan, both as a soloist and chamber musician.
With the piano trio Jalina Trio, she has recieved great acclaim both in Denmark and abroad, with enthusiastic reviews in such prestigious music magazines as “The Strad” and “Fanfare Magazine” for their debut CD with piano trios by Mendelssohn and Brahms. The recording was awarded the Danish Radio P2 Prize for best chamber music release, and was “Strad Selected” in the Strad Magazine. Jalina Trio are prize winners at several of the largest international chamber music competitions: 1st Prize at the Concorso Internationale di Musica da Camera Trapani, Italy, 2nd Prize at the 4th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Japan, and 2nd Prize and Audience Prize at “Trondheim Chamber Music Competition” Norway. Jalina Trio has participated in the “Isaac Stern Chambermusic Workshop” in New York, with a concluding concert in the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall and was later invited by Isaac Stern to participate in his “Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters”.
Janne Fredens has performed as a soloist both at home and abroad, and as a member of the Jalina Trio, the Cailin Quartet, the Hafnia Piano Quartet and with the pianist Søren Rastogi has been a frequent guest at music societies and festivals. She has appeared on several CDs, including two releases with recent Danish piano trios.
Together with her husband, Søren Rastogi, she was in 2022 appointed artist director of the internationally profiled Odsherreds Chamber Music Festival, which presents international musicians as well as young talents. She is also director of “KammermusikCamp”, a national talent workshop for young chamber musicians.
Among the many scholarships and awards she has received are Jacob Gade’s major scholarship, the BG Foundation’s Chamber Music Prize, the Ministry of Culture’s travel scholarship and the Leonie Sonnings Music Foundation’s scholarship.
Janne Fredens has been teaching cello at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, and is employed as a solo cellist in the Randers Chamber Ensemble. She is educated at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, The Music Academy in Prague, The Royal Danish Music Conservatory and Edsberg Castle Chamber Music Institution in Stockholm with teachers Torleif Thedeen, Frans Helmerson, Morten Zeuthen,Harro Ruijsenaars and Miroslav Petras.
Sören Rastogi
is most sought after at festivals and concert venues, both in his native Denmark as well as internationally. He has performed with conductors such as Christian Mandeál, Douglas Bostock, Christian Kluxen, Benjamin Shwartz, Mathias Aeschbacher, Ed Spanjaard, Jayce Ogren, Peter Feranec and Thomas Søndergaard in piano concertos by Mozart (K. 466, K. 491, K. 451, K. 488), Schumann, Stravinsky, Bernstein og Gershwin. In 2023, a CD will be released on Dacapo Records with Søren Rastogi as a soloist in the first recording of Paul von Klenau’s piano concerto with Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hans Graf.
He has on many occasions received excellent reviews for his performances. After his debut with The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the Piano Concerto by Stravinsky, the Danish newspaper “Information” wrote: “SR made his debut as a soloist with the Radio Orchestra with a perfectly balanced stage presence, which managed to combine both pianistic artistry, musical overview, sense of melodic lines, rhythmic skill, and a constant nerve with a rare lack of vanity”
Besides his career as a soloist, he has a close collaboration with leading Scandinavian singers, including barytone Johannes Weisser, with whom he has released the CD “Visiting Grieg”. “Meisterlich”, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote, and it was appointed “CD of the Month” by the British magazine Classic FM.
He is often used as a sonata partner with instrumentalists, and has played recitals with international names such as Vilde Frang, Andreas Brantelid, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Sergei Dogadin, Benjamin Schmid among many others. In addition, he has a recurring collaboration with the Danish Radio Vocal Ensemble, as both pianist and musical director. Together they have developed new concert formats, which have been presented on radio and TV transmissions in recent years. As both soloist and conductor, he has also performed piano concerts by Mozart with the ensemble CPH Mozart Players.
Sören Rastogiis a regular guest at many chamber music festivals, and has performed at the Bergen Festival, Tivoli Summer Festival, Hardanger Chamber Music Festival and many more. Together with his wife, cellist Janne Fredens, his is from 2022 appointed artist director of the internationally profiled Odsherreds Chamber Music Festival. He recently started a successful 4-hand collaboration with the pianist Martin Qvist Hansen, who in 2023 will premiere Carsten Dahl’s double piano concerto with Copenhagen Phil and go on an extensive tour to China.
In 2006, he was appointed “Artist in Residence” by The Round Tower of Copenhagen and the Danish National Radio. Included was a broadcasted concert series with five concerts as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. His concerts have numerously broadcasted in the EBU.
Sören Rastogi was educated in Copenhagen at The Royal Danish Academy of Music by Tove Lønskov and Niklas Sivelöv as well as in Berlin at Hochschule der Künste by Pascal Devoyon. He graduated from RDAM with the highest grades and had his debut from the soloist class the same place in 2005.
He has received numerous prizes and awards, for instance from the Danish Music Critics Association, and was a prizewinner at several competitions such as the 5th Nordic Piano Competition, and the Mendelssohn Competition, Berlin.
Sören Rastogi is a highly engaged in the education of the new generation of musicians, and is associate professor in piano at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. He has given masterclasses in the US, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
