Instrumentalists

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 When Nikolai Vasili Nedergaard started his violin studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in his late teens, he had no idea that already two years later he would be able to look back on concert trips to China, The Netherlands and around Scandinavia as well as…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 Mikkel started playing the guitar by coincidence. In his childhood home in northern Zealand there was a piano and a cheap guitar from a holiday to Spain, and in the end the guitar seemed most appealing after school hours. He probably thought he would end up making a living as…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 It was Josefine’s mother who taught her to walk, to make her own decisions, to follow her heart and fight for it. When she was young she gave up her career as an accordionist and studied law instead. However, she did return to music later and today makes a living…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 You could say that Britta is the result of a summer fling in the streets of Madrid long ago. On a train journey around Spain, Britta’s Swedish mother spotted the Argentinian-born street musician, who would later become Britta’s father. The romance was unavoidable. As a child, Britta was mainly interested…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 “It is much more important who is the music teacher in Kisvarda than who is the director of the opera house in Budapest. A poor director fails once, but a poor teacher risks killing the love of music in 30 generations of children.” Something along those lines was expressed by…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2021 When Amalie moved to Vienna at the age of 21, she only meant to stay for about a year. However, she soon realised that one year would not be enough. Now, five years later, she has graduated as a violinist. She is still living in Vienna where she now needs…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2020 Clown, chef or Michael Jackson As a young child, Nicholas Algot Swensen wanted to be a clown. As he never does things by half, he invented different clown characters down to the very last detail and bought costumes and props in specialty stores to be able to live out his…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2020 A pianist by chance Throughout most of Lea Han’s childhood the idea was that she should study medicine. When she was sent to piano lessons at the age of six it was mainly because she needed to do something else apart from school. Lea’s Chinese parents believed that the piano…

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2020 A broken arm There are in particular two advantages to playing the guitar if you ask Jonas Egholm. First of all a guitar is cheaper than for instance wind instruments and bassoons. And secondly there is often a guitar in the corner that you can play when you visit people….

Léonie Sonning Talent Prize 2020 The dilemma faced by a competitive musician With a father who is a classically trained guitarist, a mother who is a radio host on the Danish DR P2 channel and a younger brother who plays the cello, Adam was exposed to a lot of classical music throughout his childhood. It…