Alf Årdal
Conducting●Young TalentsÅrdal’s arrangements successfully give us what seems like new Grieg. He has transformed the works so fully into the orchestral context that they seem like wholly new works. (Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review) Foto: Tom A. Kolstad
Epost: alf.ardal@bdm.no
Alf Årdal began his professional career as a violinist in the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. After studying conducting, he worked with Norway’s leading orchestras, including the Oslo Philharmonic, conducted opera and ballet productions at the Norwegian National Opera, and guest-conducted in Scandinavia, England, Germany, and Switzerland. He is also a critically acclaimed arranger.
Alf Årdal studied violin with Arve Tellefsen and Camilla Wicks, and conducting with Arvid Fladmoe at the Norwegian Academy of Music. During his studies, he led the Canticum Novum Chamber Orchestra. He later continued his conducting studies with Otmar Suitner (Salzburg) and Herbert Blomstedt (Loma Linda University, California).
At the Norwegian National Opera, Årdal has conducted opera and ballet productions including Boris Godunov, Swan Lake, and, for the Norwegian Touring Opera, Egil Hovland’s church opera Fange og fri (Prisoner and Free).
Årdal has also conducted CD recordings released on Simax and BIS, and in recent years has led numerous workshops in Germany and Switzerland. He is the artistic director of Sinfonia Uranienborg.
Årdal has written arrangements for symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra, and wind ensembles. Ensembles and soloists who have performed works in Årdal’s transcriptions/arrangements include the Trondheim Soloists, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Camerata, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the cellists of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, and soloists such as Solveig Kringlebotn, Vilde Frang, and Truls Mørk.
Recordings featuring Årdal’s arrangements include Grieg’s two string quartets with Oslo Camerata (Naxos), Lyric Pieces by Grieg with the Barratt Due Junior Orchestra (Hemera), and Urlicht from Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, transcribed for solo cello, 12 cellists, and double bass, performed by the cellists of the Oslo Philharmonic on the album Erlik Cello, with Truls Mørk as soloist.
Alf Årdal has taught at the Barratt Due Institute of Music since 2001 and has been permanently employed as a university lecturer since 2014.
Source quote: Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review, March 2012