Olav Kielland

Encyclopedia : O : OL : OLA : Olav Kielland

Olav Kielland (1901-1985) was a Norwegian composer and conductor who was music director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1933 until 1945. He became music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in 1948.

He was born in Trondheim and studied at the Norwegian Institute of Technology from 1919 until 1921 when he moved to Leipzig. At Leipzig he studied conducting, composition, piano and bassoon and participated in Felix Weingartner's masterclass for conductors.

Kielland had his debut as a conductor and pianist in Trondheim in 1923. He was repetiteur with the Casino Theatre in Oslo, and conductor with the Stora Teatern in Gothenburg. In 1931, he became the conductor for the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and was their artistic director from 1933 until 1945. Kielland has also lead the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a guest conductor for a number of other orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a composer, Kielland represents the national line in Norwegian music. His music is strongly influenced by Norwegian folk music and perhaps particularly by the Hardanger fiddle. In 1955, he took up residence in Bø in Telemark where he began to study the Hardanger fiddle dances, in particular the polyphonic elements. The melody, rhythm and timbre of this instrument have given expression to many of his compositions. Kielland's music has a prominent polyphonic tendency, with penetrating dissonant lines. Music which, at it's best, performs a synthesis of the folk music's national accent and a contemporary musical idiom.

|- style="text-align: center;"

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.