Jakob Kullberg (born 16 January 1976 in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, Denmark) is a classical

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, noted for his collaboration with the Danish composer

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; born 13 July 1932) is a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style has varied considerably throughout his career, his music has often included repeatedly evolving melodies—such as the infinity series—in the vein o ...

Studies

He began his studies with Prof. Harro Ruijsenaars at the Royal Academy of Music, Jutland where he studied from 1995 until 1998. In 1998 he left Denmark and moved to Amsterdam, Holland, in order to study with Russian cellist Prof. at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam until 2001. After taking his diploma at Conservatorium van Amsterdam he moved to Zagreb, Croatia, to study with Prof. Valter Despalj at the

Zagreb Academy of Music The Academy of Music ( hr, Muzička akademija or MUZA) is a Croatian music school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art and the Academy of Fine Arts. ...

from 2001 until 2002. After one year in Croatia he moved to London to take a master's degree at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

where he studied with Prof. Mats Lidström and Prof. Colin Carr from 2002 until 2004. After London, Kullberg began studying privately in Vienna with Prof. Reinhard Latzko in 2004/2005 before returning to Denmark to take his Soloist Diploma at the

Royal Danish Academy of Music The Royal Danish Academy of Music, or Royal Danish Conservatory of Music ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium), in Copenhagen is the oldest professional institution of musical education in Denmark as well as the largest, with approxima ...

, Copenhagen, with Prof. Morten Zeuthen.

Career

In recent years Kullberg has been specializing in the solo cello suites by

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

under the guidance of Dutch

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

cellist Anner Bylsma. Kullberg is known for his working relationship with Danish composer Per Nørgård. Nørgård has composed numerous works for him including

chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations *Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics *Debate chamber, the space or room that houses deliber ...

groups such as his 10th

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

"Harvest Timeless" and works for solo cello such as his fourth solo

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

"Rhizome", which Kullberg premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in June 2007 to the following critical acclaim:

The early concert on Saturday from the young Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg was the perfect Aldeburgh event. He has an amazing control of line, and is always bang in tune even in the most finger-twisting passages, skills he used to spellbinding effect in the Sonata No. 2 by his compatriot Per Nørgård.

The most recent product of their continued collaboration is Nørgård's second cello concerto, "Momentum". The English composer Simon Holt wrote his 2009 duo for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and cello "Telarañas" (Spanish for ''cobwebs'') for Kullberg and dedicated it to him.

Recordings

''Momentum'' with the New Music Orchestra, Bratislava and Szymon Bywalec, containing Per Nørgård's cello concerto and other pieces, was released in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kullberg, Jakob Danish classical cellists Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Royal Danish Academy of Music alumni Living people 1979 births