New Piano Professor at RDAM
Pianist Jens Elvekjær will assume the role of Piano and Chamber Music Professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1 April 2020.
As one of the most prominent pianists in Scandinavia, Jens Elvekjær has performed all over the world. In the last 20 years, he has performed over 1500 concerts with his trio, Trio con Brio Copenhagen. Performing engagements in the current and coming seasons include Boulez Saal in Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and in Copenhagen, DR Koncerthuset and Tivoli Concert Hall
Uffe Savery, president of RDAM, remarks in a statement: “I am very happy, on behalf of the academy, to be able to appoint Jens Elvekjær as the academy’s new professor in piano and chamber music. In his significant career as associate professor, Jens has contributed greatly to the development of piano and chamber music at the academy. Additionally, Jens, with depth, insight, and passionate engagement, participates in creating an academy, which contributes to actualising the role, impact, and potential of music in society. Most recently, at a large staff seminar, Jens contributed passionately with ideas on how we can educate musicians and give them both breadth and depth in their competencies to prepare them for being a part of the music environment of the future. Jens is also instrumental in creating a very special “ethos” at the academy through his attentive and curious approach, while at the same time being brave in his own individual manner.”
Jens Elvekjær received his education in Aarhus (John Damgaard), Salzburg (K.H. Kämmerling), Vienna (Leonid Brumberg), Cologne (Alban Berg Quartet), and Budapest (Ferenc Rados), and has been teaching at RDAM since 2008. He was appointed associate professor in 2012. He has given masterclasses nationally and internationally, at institutions such as Yale University and Rice University, USA, Münchner Musikhochschule in Germany, and Jiri Hlinka Academy in Norway.
Jens Elveklær has won many of the most significant Danish and international prizes, such as the Nordic Piano Competition, the Chamber Music Competition of the Danish Croadcasting Cooperation, the ARD-Wettbewerb in Munich, and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson-Trio-Award in USA. He was also awarded the P2 Kunstnerpris in 2015, and as recently as November 2019 received the Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Honorary Award. Jens Elvekjær is the first Danish Steinway Artist.
Alongside his artistic career, Jens has also been an active entrepreneur in the Danish music scene. In the last few years, he has established and served as artistic director for many festivals, such as Copenhagen Chamber Music Festival and Chamber Music at Lundsgaard. He is also the chairman of Hellerup Kammermusikforening, which is now one of the largest and most prominent music societies in Denmark.
In addition to being an active pianist, chamber musician, and entrepreneur, Jens Elvekjær is also deeply involved in artistic development projects (kunstnerisk udviklingsvirksomhed - KUV). At RDAM, he is currently working on his KUV project, “The Fourth Person”. Who is “the fourth person” in a piano trio? The project examines the dynamics of a classical ensemble and its fascinating and unseen mechanisms. Can the creation of an ensemble’s soul and the completely unique language of unseen gestures be explained? And why does a musician perform better when playing with his or her partners?
Jens Elvekjær, on his appointment: “I hope to be able to create an extremely dynamic Danish piano scene with creative and innovative pianists, who can take great and impressive classical music and make it into an important part of the everyday life of as many people as possible.”
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