Henning Kraggerud
Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is co-Artistic Director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music and Artistic Director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

Henning’s esteemed position as an artist originates from his intelligent expression and impressive virtuosity combined with an unusually colourful tone. A natural and instinctive artist, he consistently draws audiences and critics towards the genuine quality of his playing.

Such is Henning’s musicianship that he is invited time and again to join many of the world’s most significant orchestras and conductors. In February 2012, he stepped in at late notice to perform two concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko, gaining 5-star praise in the UK press. In August of the same year, he made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Nicolas McGegan at the Hollywood Bowl, where his performance was hailed by one critic as “the high point of the night. It was Mozart as...Mozart himself would have wanted it played”. More recent highlights include the Vienna Chamber and Gulbenkian orchestras and a UK tour with SWR Stuttgart and Stéphane Denève. Return engagements took Henning to the Danish National Symphony under Thomas Dausgaard, the Hallé with Sir Mark Elder and the London Philharmonic with Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Henning also made his debut with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra under Gunther Herbig and directed ‘Eight Seasons’ by Vivaldi and Piazzolla with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

The current season sees Henning join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton at the BBC Proms, following a critically acclaimed Proms debut in 2010. He performs with the

Auckland Philharmonia and Minnesota and Seattle Symphony orchestras, makes his Warsaw concerto debut with the NFM Symphony Orchestra and tours the UK with the Oslo Philharmonic. In a play/direct capacity Henning appears with the Tallinn Chamber and Portugese Symphony orchestras among others.

A dedicated chamber musician, Henning regularly performs both on violin and viola at major festivals and venues; recent collaborations have included performances at venues such as London’s Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s and Bruges Concertgebouw with Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Leif Ove Andsnes, Imogen Cooper, Adrian Brendel and Natalie Clein. In the current season, Henning performs with Christian Poltéra and Jeremy Menuhin at Berlin Konzerthaus and with Lawrence Power at Bath Mozartfest. His regular recital partners include Christian Ihle Hadland, Håvard Gimse and Kathryn Stott, with whom he performs at Wigmore Hall and Slovenian Philharmonic Hall this season.

In the spirit of the old masters such as Fritz Kreisler and Eugène Ysaÿe, Henning composes his own music, performing many of his own works, arrangements and cadenzas in concert. As of 2014, Henning's reputation as a composer was sealed by the première of Equinox: 24 Postludes in All Keys for Violin and String Orchestra, composed as musical counterparts to a story by world-famous author Jostein Gaarder. Among the ensembles that have recently commissioned and performed works by Henning are the Brodsky Quartet and Britten Sinfonia.

Henning Kraggerud violin violinist composer Norwegian Equinox Henning is also an accomplished improviser, a skill which led him to a recording entitled “Last Spring”. Released in June 2012 on the ACT label, the disc was the result of a collaboration with Norwegian jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft. Exploring improvisations on Norwegian folk music, the disc made a far-reaching impression in the international press, including Classical Music Magazine 5-star Editor’s Choice, which described it as “beautifully recorded and urgently recommended”.

Henning’s discography includes many recordings on the Naxos label, the most recent being Grieg’s three sonatas, arranged for violin and chamber orchestra by Henning and Bernt Simen Lund. For Simax, Henning has recorded the complete unaccompanied violin sonatas of Ysaÿe, on a disc which won the prestigious Spellemann CD award. Henning appeared in a major television and cinema documentary about the Norwegian 19th century violin virtuoso and composer, Ole Bull, and received the Ole Bull Prize in 2007.

Born in Oslo in 1973, Henning studied with Camilla Wicks and Emanuel Hurwitz. He is a recipient of Norway's prestigious Grieg Prize and in 2007 was awarded the Sibelius Prize for his interpretations and recording of Sibelius’ music around the world. Henning is a Professor at the Barratt Due music conservatoire in Oslo, where he play/directs the Oslo Camerata, and in April 2012 was a jury member at the Menuhin Competition in Beijing. From September 2015, he is International Chair in Violin at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Henning Kraggerud plays on a 1744 Guarneri del Gesù, provided by Dextra Musica AS. This company is founded by Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.