Bjarke Mogensen

Bjarke Mogensen (b.1985) is a Danish  accordionist with an extensive international concert activity as a soloist, as a chamber musician and in front of an orchestra. Award winner in a large number of music competitions, notably taking 1st prize in the European Broadcast Union's Soloist Competition (2012) and DR P2's Chamber Music Competition (2011).

Bjarke Mogensen graduated from the soloist class of the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2012 with teachers Geir Draugsvoll and James Crabb. In 2011 he made his solo debut at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York. His playing has taken him around the world, where he has visited concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in the Netherlands and the Barbican Hall in London. In addition, Bjarke Mogensen has released 10 CDs under his own name and he has made numerous TV and radio appearances at home and abroad.

Bjarke Mogensen has collaborated with classical musicians such as violinist Gidon Kremer and viola player Tatjana Masurenko as well as artists from completely different genres, including Steffen Brandt, Henrik Koefoed, Bent Fabricius-Bjerre and Benny Andersen.

Teaching

Since 2011, Bjarke has been employed at RDAM as a part-time teacher in accordion and chamber music.

Artistic practice

After Bjarke Mogensen debuted as a soloist at the age of 13 in a television broadcast on German television with millions of viewers, he has distinguished himself as one of Denmark's prominent soloists, appearing in famous concert halls around the world. Bjarke Mogensen  is a versatile musician whose palette ranges from his own compositions and those of baroque masters such as Bach and Scarlatti over folk music and the tango to, notably, the avant-garde music after WW2. Through his curiosity and pioneering work with his instrument, Bjarke Mogensen has inspired the creation of more than 60 new works – solo, chamber music and concertos for accordion and symphony orchestra. A number of works by prominent Danish composers such as Per Nørgård, Poul Ruders, Bent Sørensen and Anders Koppel bear a dedication to Bjarke Mogensen.

As a soloist, Bjarke Mogensen has performed with orchestras such as the Münchner Symphoniker, Kremerata Baltica, Moscow Virtuosi, Prague Radio Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Det Norske Kammerorkester, Turku Philharmonic, Tiroler Symphony Orchestra and DR Symphony Orchestra.

Bjarke has also made a name for himself within chamber music; as a member and founder of the award-winning accordion duo MYTHOS, The Piazzolla Orchestra and the quartet KOTTOS. 

Bjarke Mogensen's ongoing KUV project "In collaboration with Ole Schmidt" serves to highlight a prime concern of his as a musician and a teacher, namely the quest to make the present-day accordion a mainstream instrument in the world of classical music by exploring the newest as well as the oldest soloist repertoire for an instrument that is still rapidly developing, with the Nordic heritage of Mogens Ellegaard holding a very special position in the international accordion world.

www.bjarkemogensen.com