Jakob Kullberg, BBC Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Michael Francis, John Storgårds & Szymon Bywalec
Biography Jakob Kullberg, BBC Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Michael Francis, John Storgårds & Szymon Bywalec
Jakob Kullberg
A prize-winner at international solo and chamber music competitions, he has a discography which to date has earned him P2 Prisen – ‘the Danish Grammy’ – twice, as well as a shortlisting for a Gramophone Award. He has been artist-in-residence with, amongst others, the International Carl Nielsen Competition, Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen and the New Music Orchestra (Poland). Currently collaborating with the BBC Philharmonic on a large-scale concerto recording project, he appears with leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Avanti Ensemble and Ensemble Intercontemporain.
He is also a recurring guest at festivals such as the Aldeburgh Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Bergen International Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
Jakob Kullberg enjoys a uniquely close collaboration with the Danish composer Per Nørgård, whose entire cello-output of the last 20 years has been composed specifically for him. The paradigm example of their dialogic collaboration is manifested in Kullberg’s composition Nocturnal Cadenza based on fragments by Nørgård. He is also a notable interpreter and collaborator of Kaija Saariaho and Bent Sørensen.
In recent times his interest in freer ways of being expressive has led him to record an improvisation album with Per Nørgård and the prolific experimental jazz drummer Kresten Osgood, and he recently finished recording his first album as a singing composer named Propounding which draws its inspiration from indie-pop, free-jazz and contemporary classical music as well as the poems of Ezra Pound.
Artistic director of the Open Strings Cello Masterclass since 2004, Jakob Kullberg has been professor of cello at the Royal College of Music, London since 2016. He has been a juror at the Schoenfeld International String Competition (China) as well as the Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition.
