Ulrich Stærk
Ulrich Stærk trained as a pianist and graduated with a diploma from the West Jutland Academy of Music in 1987, followed by a soloist class (Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Music) at RDAM, making his debut concert in 1989.
Teaching
Ulrich is employed at RDAM in Copenhagen as an associate professor.
He specialises in coaching singers, and regularly holds masterclasses and workshops in Denmark and abroad under the auspices of singing societies, the preparatory class for academies (MGK), academies of music, opera houses and opera academies, as well as independently.
“Over the years, I have developed some highly effective learning techniques that stimulate the cognitive part of the brain, while at the same time tricking the defence mechanisms in its conscious part.
I tried these methods out on myself as a soloist before further developing them and organising them into a system for the benefit of all my students, both at RDAM and in my capacity as Vocal Coach in several places in Europe, where I have my own bases and also act as a guest coach or guest professor in opera houses, academies and teaching institutions.”
- Ulrich Stærk
Artistic practice
Ulrich belongs to the elite of Scandinavian pianists, giving well over 150 concerts a year in Denmark and abroad. He has performed with all the symphony orchestras in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein with piano concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Chopin, Bartok, Manuel de Falla, and others.
He has recorded several CDs, including Herman D. Koppel’s 2nd Piano Concerto with Odense Symphony Orchestra and Rhapsody In Blue in 2014 with the Prince’s Music Corps.
Ulrich’s latest chamber release is also the world’s first classical CD app, French Music (also available on CD). The app was developed by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) and Dacapo, and contains French music for cello and piano.
In 2019, Ulrich released his latest solo CD, containing a series of nocturnal pieces under the title Royal Piano Nights, to mark the 50th birthday of HRH Prince Joachim. In 2021, the CD is one of those most frequently played on the Danish national radio channel P2.
In 2015, Ulrich performed at Carnegie Hall, as one of the few Danish pianists besides Victor Borge to do so, together with violinist Niklas Walentin.
Ulrich has collaborated and/or performed with several big names, including Margareth Price, Cecilia Bartoli, Barbara Hannigan, Sarah Chang, Yo Yo Ma, Bo Skovhus, Cornelia Beskow, Magnus Vigilius, Leif Segerstam, Sofia Asplund, Celine Byrne, Daniel Serafin, Anne Sophie von Otter, John Lundgren, Inga Nielsen, Ophra Harnoy, Thomas Allen and Liene Kinča.
He has often performed for members of the Danish Royal Family, both on official occasions, such as international state visits to Brussels, and on private occasions.
In 2017 he was one of the few musicians to be included in the Krak Blue Book.
Ulrich has received a number of awards and nominations, including the Artist’s Prize of the Circle of Music Critics (Musikanmelderringen), as well as a number of GRAMMY nominations, Classical Release of the Year (DK), Classical CD of the Year (Gramophone/Critic’s Choice), Classical Solo CD of the Year (P2), CD of the Month (The Strad magazine), This Month on Display (Virgin/NY), and many more.
Ulrich regularly holds masterclasses and workshops, for example in Oslo, Bergen, Malmö, Paris, Hanover, Gothenburg, Munich and Amsterdam. He has received invitations from Philadelphia, New York and Stockholm, amongst other places.
Ulrich is a regular guest teacher at a number of institutions, academies of music and opera houses, including in Paris, Hanover, Oslo, Bergen, Malmö and Gothenburg.
CD releases
Bo Gunge
12 Studier
Ulrich Stærk, Duo Askou//Andersen, Pihl & Schelling
Dacapo 8.226599
Poulenc, Ibert, Francaix, Ravel, Debussy, Fauré
French Pieces
Henrik Dam Thomsen, Ulrich Stærk
CLASSCD 712
Gabriel Fauré, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Louis Vierne
More French Pieces
Ulrich Stærk, Henrik Dam Thomsen
Dacapo 8.224727
Herman D. Koppel, Per Nørgård, Poul Ruders, Niels Rosing-Schow, Anders Nordentoft
Conversations for Violin and Piano
Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, Ulrich Stærk
Dacapo 8.226519
Herman D. Koppel
Concertos
Rune Most, Michaela Fukacova, Ulrich Stærk, Paul Mann, Odense Symphony Orchestra
Dacapo 8.226032
Carl Nielsen
Songs
Inger Dam-Jensen, Morten Ernst Lassen, Ulrich Stærk
Dacapo 8.224218
Erik Jørgensen
Confrontations
Ulrich Stærk, the Danish Saxophone Quartet, Kontra Quartet, the Danish Wind Quintet, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Tamás Vetö
Dacapo 8.224137
Peter Heise, P.E. Lange-Müller
Songs
Sten Byriel, Ulrich Stærk
Dacapo 8.224033
Rued Langgaard
Lieder
Anne Margrethe Dahl, Ulrich Stærk
Dacapo 8.224011
Gioachino Rossini
Petite Messe Solennelle
Various soloists, Ulrich Stærk, Eric Kure, the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir, Ebbe Munk
KON 32122
Shostakovich
Piano Quartet in G minor op. 57, and other pieces
Ulrich Stærk, Sakari Tepponen, Niels Christian Ollgard, Michel Camille, Alexei Kalatchev, Dorothea Wolff, Nina Pavlovski
CLASSCD 273
Carl Nielsen
Sange
Michael Kristensen, Ulrich Stærk
Naxos 8.554974
Mendelssohn and others
Plys
The Girls’ Choir of the West Jutland Academy of Music, Ulrich Stærk, and others
CLASSCD 266
L.M. Gottschalk
Souvenir de Gottschalk
Ulrich Stærk
CLASSCD 644
Robert Schumann
Three Violin Sonatas
Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, Ulrich Stærk
Scandinavian Classics 220585-205
Tor Aulin, Hugo Alfvén, Wilhelm Stenhammar
Aquarelles/Watercolours, Swedish Romantic Violin/Piano Music
Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, Ulrich Stærk
CLASSCD 678
Various composers
Igjennem bøgeskoven - Danske sange og romancer
Trinitatis Kantori, Ulrich Stærk, Per Enevold and others
CLASSCD 470
Frédéric Chopin
Polish Songs
Anna Haase, Ulrich Stærk
Ars Production 38464
Carl Nielsen, A.P. Berggreen, Oluf Ring, Otto Mortensen, C.E.F. Weyse, P.E. Lange-Müller, Thomas Laub, Poul Schierbeck, Thorvald Aagaard
Fra Højskolesangbogen
Signe Asmussen, David Danholt, Ulrich Stærk
Dacapo 8.224712
Intentions – Improvisation for violin and piano
Karen Humle, Ulrich Stærk
Exlibris VC001
Berlioz, Schönberg, Berg
Nights of Passions
Radmila Rajic Njue, Ulrich Stærk
POINT 475341
Various composers
Så tag mit hjerte
Karin Thulemark, Ulrich Stærk, Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, the DR Danish National Girls’ Choir, Michael Bojesen
CDK
Kurt Weill, Manuel de Falla, Xavier Monsalvatge, Ib Nørholm
Down to Earth
Helle Fabricius Grarup, Ulrich Stærk, Thomas Lyng Poulsen
PACD 171
Carl Nielsen
4 Grand Works for Violin
Niklas Walentin, Ulrich Stærk
CDK 1147
Various composers
Concert for a Prince
Ulrich Stærk, The Prince’s Music Corps
CDK 1128