Espen Berg (born 30 June 1983) is a Norwegian jazz musician, arranger and composer from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

, known for his collaborations with musicians such as trumpeter Per Jørgensen, saxophonist

Marius Neset Marius Søfteland Neset (born 2 January 1985) is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone) living in Copenhagen. He is known from collaborations within the jazz bands "People Are Machines", "Kaktusch", " JazzKamikaze" and Django Bates projects "Sto ...

and the

Trondheim Jazz Orchestra Trondheim Jazz Orchestra (TJO) (established 1999 in Trondheim, Norway) is an orchestral project based in Trondheim, and closely related to both the Midtnorsk Jazzsenter (MNJ - Mid Norwegian Jazz Center) and Jazz Line at the Trøndelag Conservator ...

Career

Berg was born in

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, and began playing the piano at a very early age; at only 7 years old he was featured on national TV, performing his own compositions. He began studying the jazz tradition at the age of 16, and he earned his Master's degree in Performing music from the acknowledged Jazz program at

Norwegian University of Science and Technology The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

(NTNU) in 2008. At the time he started the trio Listen!, together with

Bendik Giske Bendik Giske is a Norwegian saxophonist and performance artist, living in Berlin. He has released three albums, ''Surrender'' (2019), ''Cracks'' (2021), and ''Bendik Gaske'' (2023) all on Smalltown Supersound. Life and work Giske was born in Oslo ...

(saxophone) and

Daniel Herskedal Daniel Herskedal (born 2 April 1982) is a Norwegian jazz tubist. He is regarded as one of the most talented jazz tubists in Norway. Career Herskedal started playing the French horn as a boy, then later took up the tuba. He started formal studi ...

(tuba). Berg started working as a professional musician in 2003, and toured with his own trio Listen in Scandinavia, Spain, Syria, Cuba, Belgium, France and Hungary. He has released three albums with his own bands, and also plays within the jazz band Green Serene, Kåre Kolve Quartet and

, and together with the saxophonist

performing the Commissioned work at

Moldejazz Molde International Jazz Festival (MIJF) or Moldejazz (established 1961 in Molde Municipality) takes place annually in July, and is known as one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe. It was initiated by the local Storyville Jazz Club. Since 1 ...

in 2012. In 2007 he won the prize for best soloist at Hoeilaart Int'l Jazz Competition in Belgium, and in the summer of 2013 Berg was one of eight semi-finalists in the Solo Piano Competition at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

. His first solo piano album, ''Noctilucent'' (2012), was named one of the ten best releases of 2012 by

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, and was planning for a second solo album in November 2013. Berg has also written music for the

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

-nominated

Trondheim Soloists Trondheim Soloists () are a musical chamber ensemble of string players based in Trondheim, Norway. The ensemble was founded in 1988 and has been an arena for professional concert training for string-players at the Music Conservatory at the Norwe ...

, Cikada String Quartet, Quintus and

Seeb Al-Seeb, As Seeb, As Sib, or Seeb () is a coastal fishing province, located several kilometres northwest of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 470,878. Landmarks include the Naseem Garden, the Royal Stables ...

. He is an assistant professor at the Department of Music, NTNU (Music technology and Music performance) and in the period 2005–2015 he was a lecturer at

Trøndertun folkehøgskole Thorns, also known as Stigma Diabolicum, is a Norwegian black metal band that formed in 1989 and was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. They made two highly influential demos in the early 1990s, ''Grymyrk'' and ''Trøndertun'', but h ...

Honors

*2007: Best soloist, at Hoeilaart Int'l Jazz Competition in Belgium *2016: Espen Berg Trio was appointed NTNU-ambassadør (=NTNU Ambassador) during Trondheim Jazz Festival. The trio consists of Berg: piano; Bárður Reinert Poulsen: bass; Simon Olderskog Albertsen: drums.JazziNorge (9. mai 2016) «Espen Berg Trio utnevnt til NTNU-ambassadør». ''JazziNorge.no''
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Discography

As leader/co-leader

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Espen 20th-century Norwegian pianists 21st-century Norwegian pianists Avant-garde jazz musicians Norwegian jazz pianists Norwegian jazz composers Norwegian University of Science and Technology alumni 1983 births Living people Musicians from Hamar