New Associate Professors in cello
The Royal Danish Academy of Music has appointed two new Associate Professors in cello as of 1 September 2022: Toke Møldrup and Andreas Brantelid.
RDAM Professor and Head of String Department Tim Frederiksen says: “On behalf of the strings department, it is my great pleasure to welcome our two new associate professors in cello, Andreas Brantelid and Toke Møldrup. Both of them have distinguished careers in music in Denmark and internationally, and their musical commitment will be a great inspiration to all string players at RDAM.
“There is no doubt that they will be able to maintain and develop the high standard that has been achieved in the cello class under Professor Morten Zeuthen, who is now stepping into the role of emeritus.”
Toke Møldrup studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Harro Ruijsenaars and at RDAM, where he studied under professors Morten Zeuthen and Tim Frederiksen, making his debut concert in 2005. In addition, he graduated from the Hochschule für Musik, Karlsruhe with a concert examination in 2006, followed by private studies under Hans Jørgen Jensen (Northwestern School of Music), Valter Despalj (Zagreb Academy of Music), the Alban Berg Quartet in Vienna and Cologne, and basso continuo studies with Viggo Mangor, amongst others.
Toke Møldrup has performed as a soloist with Danish and international symphony orchestras under conductors such as Aldo Ceccato, Sanntu Rouvali, Lan Shui and Joshua Weilerstein, and has been a frequent guest in Danish and foreign music associations and festivals such as the Bergen International Festival, Lincoln International Chamber Music Festival, Monte-Carlo Spring Arts Festival and Oberstdorf Musiksommer, as a member of the ensembles Nordlys, Paizo Kvartetten, Den Danske Klavertrio, Copenhagen Cello Quartet, and with other prominent musicians. His discography includes the critically-acclaimed recording of Bach’s suites for solo cello (2018), the release Cello Libris, Geoffrey Gordon’s works for cello (2020) and Beethoven’s sonatas and variations with pianist Yaron Kohlberg (2020). Møldrup also continues to develop the cello repertoire through collaborations with many contemporary composers, including the European premiere of John Williams’ Cello Concerto, Svend David Sandström’s Nordic Mass, Geoffrey Gordon’s Cello Concerto and Christian Winther Christensen’s Concerto for Cello and Accordion.
Toke Møldrup was solo cellist in the Copenhagen Phil from 2010-2020 – a position he left in order to devote himself to his many soloist tasks and his teaching and research at RDAM, where he himself trained as a soloist under professors Morten Zeuthen and Tim Frederiksen. Toke plays a David Tecchler cello from 1697 (on loan from the Augustinus Foundation).
Toke Møldrup has been a part time teacher at RDAM since 2005.
Andreas Brantelid was born in 1987. After receiving early tuition from his father Ingemar, Andreas made his soloist debut at the age of 14 in a performance of the Elgar concerto with the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen.
Highlights of recent orchestra engagements includes appearances with the London Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, BBC Symphony, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Yomiyuri Nippon Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Symphony, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Munich Chamber Orchestra, as well as all the major orchestras in the Nordic countries. He has worked with many distinguished conductors including Andris Nelsons, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Philippe Herreweghe, Vasily Petrenko, Thomas Dausgaard, Pablo Heras-Casado, Andrew Manze, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Robin Ticciati, and Heinrich Schiff.
Among the musicians who inspired and strongly influenced Andreas are pianist Bengt Forsberg and violinist Nils-Erik Sparf, both of whom Andreas has played with since 2002 in different chamber music formats. Andreas has also collaborated with artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Joshua Bell, Vadim Repin, Nikolaj Znaider, Lawrence Power and Paul Badura-Skoda. Recently he has formed a trio with Austrian violinist Benjamin Schmid and Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland.
Andreas Brantelid has appeared in venues such as Dortmund Konzerthaus, where he has been a ‘Junge Wilde’ artist, New York (Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall), London (Wigmore Hall), Zurich (Tonhalle), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Barcelona (Palau de la Música), Salzburg (Mozarteum) and Tokyo (Metropolitan Theatre). He also performs at festivals including Verbier, Lockenhaus, Jerusalem, Stavanger, Bergen, Risør, Kuhmo, and Wiener Festwochen, and has been a member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society.
His debut disc of the Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Saint-Saëns cello concertos with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra was released by EMI in 2008, followed by a disc of chamber music by Chopin including his cello sonata (2010), and an Encore disc (2012). A recording of the complete works for cello and piano by Grieg was released by BIS in March 2015. Gabriel Fauré’s complete works for cello and piano appeared as a BIS recording in 2017. In 2021 he released a much acclaimed CD with both Haydn Cello Concertos with the period ensemble Concerto Copenhagen led by Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
Andreas won first prizes in the 2006 Eurovison Young Musicians Competion, the 2007 International Paulo Cello Competition and, in subsequent years, received music awards and fewllowships including the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2008, the BBC’s New Generation Artist 2008-2011, The Europan Concert Hall Organization “Rising Star” tour in the 2008/09 season. In 2015 he received the Carl Nielsen Prize in Copenhagen. In 2018 Andreas Brantelid has become Artistic Director at the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival.
Since 2018 Andreas has been Associate Professor at the Malmö Academy of Music, and in 2022 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the Sibelius Akademy in Helsinki.
Andreas plays the 1707 ‘Boni-Hegar’ Stradivarius, which has been made available to him by the generous support of Norwegian art collector Christen Sveaas. Andreas Brantelid lives with his wife and four daughters in Nærum near Copenhagen.
