About us
About the ensemble
Oslo Chamber Academy performs chamber music for winds with the historical Harmoniemusik instrumentation as a foundation. Founded by Artistic Director and Oslo Philharmonic Principal Oboist David Friedemann Strunck, the ensemble has established itself as a leader in Europe, with critically acclaimed CD recordings and recurring invitations to prestigious festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Summerwinds Woodwind Festival Münsterland, Glogerfestspillene, the Fartein Valen Festival, Trondheim Chamber Music Festival, Stavanger Chamber Music Festival, and the Valdres Summer Symphony Festival, among others.
Oslo Chamber Academy utilizes historical brass instruments in repertoire from the baroque, classical, and romantic periods. This contributes to the ensemble’s authentic sound and historically-oriented performances. Since its inception in 2009, the ensemble’s ambition has been to embrace the full range of literature for the Harmonieensemble – from its origins in Vienna in the 1780s to the music of our own time. The ensemble premiered The Last Days of Sultan Selim III by Mert Karabey in 2011, the first beauty of Magnar Åm in 2012, Retour á la Nature by Ketil Hvoslef in 2015, G8 by Trygve Brøske in 2016, The Silk Road by Gisle Kverndokk in 2017, and I Vesterled by Morten Gaathaug in 2019.
The Oslo Chamber Academy regularly plays concerts at Scene 2 and Prøvesalen in the Norwegian Opera & Ballet. The ensemble celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2019 with a tour to Germany and a magnificent anniversary concert. In this same year, the ensemble also launched its own festival: SKI GARDEN FESTIVAL - classical music in green surroundings.
Harmoniemusik
HARMONIEMUSIK was the most popular form of chamber music for winds during the classical and early romantic periods. The Harmonie ensemble is one of the predecessors of today’s military bands and symphonic wind ensembles and was favored by both well-known and lesser-known composers. These ensembles performed serenades and divertimentos and regaled audiences in court, castle, and other high-society events. On several occasions, well-known orchestral works and operas were transcribed for Harmonie ensemble to make the music accessible to a larger audience. Not infrequently, composers wrote these transcriptions themselves.
The classical ideals of harmony were expressed in many ways throughout art and architecture. In music, it was the establishment of Harmoniemusik groups and philharmonic orchestras. The original instrumentation was for two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, two bassoons, and contrabassoon or contrabass. Some time later, composers varied the instrumentation to include flute, several horns, trumpets, and string instruments.
Musicians
David Friedemann Strunck
Artistic leader / oboe
David Friedemann Strunck is the solo oboist with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He previously held a similar position with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra (Germany). He studied at the music academies in both Detmold and Stuttgart with Gernot Schmalfuß and Ingo Goritzki respectively, and he received scholarships from the prestigious German Academic Student Foundation and the Business Community in Westphalia Talent Fund. Further, he has won several awards and often performs as a soloist with the Oslo Philharmonic and a number of other orchestras. He is an associate professor at the Barratt Due Institute of Music.
Photo: BLUNDERBUSS / Anna-Julia Granberg
Annaleena Jämsä
Flute
Annaleena Jämsä is the principal flutist of the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland and teaches at the music academy in the same city. She has previously been employed as principal flutist in Oulu Sinfonia, Kymi Sinfonietta, the Oslo Philharmonic, and the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, and has also substituted with many orchestras throughout Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Jämsä studied with Ilpo Mansnerus at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She won first prize at the Lahti National Woodwind Competition in 2003. Jämsä is also an active chamber musician and has been a soloist with, among others, Oulu Sinfonia, Kemi City Orchestra, St. Michel Strings, the Band of the Finnish Defense Forces, and the Tampere Philharmonic.
Pierre Xhonneux
Clarinet
Pierre Xhonneux grew up in a musical family in a region of Belgium where wind orchestra tradition runs deep. He studied music in Namur (Belgium) and in Paris with Nicolas Baldeyrou. He has a wide range of musical repertoire and enjoys playing in various ensembles and constellations. In 2009 he won the position of solo E-flat clarinetist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Liège (Belgium). Since 2015 he has been the E-flat clarinetist of the Oslo Philharmonic and a clarinet teacher at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo.
Photo: BLUNDERBUSS / Anna-Julia Granberg
Catherine Berg
Clarinet
Catherine Berg has been a clarinetist in the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces since 1996. She also regularly plays with several symphony orchestras and is active as a chamber musician, including with the Oslo Chamber Academy. She also teaches at the Barratt Due Institute of Music. Berg is educated in France, where she studied with Richard Vieille at the Conservatoire National de Region de Paris. After her studies, she worked the next five years as a performing musician and educator in Paris, and took additional instruction from leading clarinet artists such as Alain Damiens of Ensemble intercontemporain, Michel Arrignon of the Paris Opera, and Pasqual Margues of Orchestre de Paris. After several years as a performing musician and educator, Berg later trained as a Gestalt therapist at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute.
Steinar Granmo Nilsen
Horn
Steinar Granmo Nilsen is an associate professor of horn and natural horn at the Norwegian Academy of Music and is a member of the Norwegian Wind Ensemble based in Halden, Norway. He grew up in Trondheim and first studied at the Trøndelag Music Conservatory with Stein Villanger. He then traveled to Germany where he completed his orchestral diploma studies at the Freiburg University of Music with Ifor James (valve horn) and Renée Allen (natural horn). He concluded his studies, majoring in chamber music, with Frøydis Ree Wekre at the Norwegian Academy of Music.
Photo: BLUNDERBUSS / Anna-Julia Granberg
Niklas Sebastian Grenvik
Horn
Niklas Sebastian Grenvik is a freelance hornist based in Oslo. He holds a bachelor’s degree (2014) and a master’s degree (2017) from the Norwegian Academy of Music, with an exchange year in Austria at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (2014). Horn teachers include Frøydis Ree Wekre, Julius Pranevičius, Steinar Granmo Nilsen, and Raimund Zell. He is active as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, and in the field of early music. In addition to modern horn, he plays baroque horn, natural horn, and other valve horns. He is an active project creator, and has helped launch two orchestras: Nordic Harmony and the Timani Chamber Orchestra, as well as a new festival, the Akerselva Chamber Music Festival. Niklas is also a Timani teacher, where he specializes in the interaction of the body and music.
Alessandro Caprotti
Bassoon
Alessandro Caprotti has been the solo bassoonist of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra since 2009 and an associate professor of bassoon at the Norwegian Academy of Music since 2019. He is also an instructor at the Barratt Due Institute of Music. He first studied in Milan with Oscar Meana and then in Lyon with Carlo Colombo. He has played with several of Europe’s leading orchestras, and as a chamber musician he has participated in, among others, the Risør Chamber Music Festival, Gloppen Musikkfest, Stavanger Chamber Music Festival, and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra’s own chamber music series.
Photo: BLUNDERBUSS / Anna-Julia Granberg
Jon Halvor Lund
Bassoon
Jon Halvor Lund is alternating principal bassoonist of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet and teaches bassoon at the Music Conservatory at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Prior to joining the opera orchestra in 2014, he was principal bassoonist in Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra for ten years. He also worked for two years as alternating principal bassoonist in the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Spain and had a one-year contract with the Oslo Philharmonic. Jon Halvor studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Hanover University of Music, Drama, and Media in Germany, with professors Torleiv Nedberg, Eirik Birkeland, and Dag Jensen. He is also the co-founder and chairman of the board of the Norwegian Double Reed Society - a newly established organization for oboists and bassoonists in Norway.
Cécile-Laure Kouassi
Double bass
French double bassist Cécilie-Laure Kouassi graduated from The Juilliard School and Rice University. She has been employed as fourth chair double bass in the Oslo Philharmonic since 2016, and has been acting principal bass for projects with Les Dissonances and on contract for second principal bass with The Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen. Kouassi has participated in many festivals, including Verbier, Aspen, and Stavanger and has played and taught at Valdres. She also plays with the Center de Musique de Chambre de Paris. Cécile-Laure Kouassi studied pedagogy with Virginia Dixon at The Hinton Bass Institute (2018).
Boris Fatulaev
Oboe
Boris Fatulaev is from St. Petersburg and is employed with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble in Halden. He studied with David Friedemann Strunck at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo and with François Leleux at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Munich. He has performed as a soloist in both Norway and Russia, and has already received several prizes for his playing.
Other musicians with whom we collaborate include Cathrine Nyheim (timpani), Randi Krogvold Lundqvist (flute), Leann Currie (bassoon), Sabine Randoll (horn), Trond Magne Brekka (flute), Danijel Petrovich (double bass), Helen Benson (flute), Kristin Haagensen (saxophone), and Ingrid Meidell Noodt (clarinet), among others.
Arranger
Trond Olaf Larsen has been Oslo Kammerakademi’s permanent arranger since the very beginning of the ensemble. His arrangements have been performed by both Oslo Kammerakademi and other ensembles in concert series and festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Summerwinds Münster, Glogerfestspillene, Levende klassisk, Fartein Valen-festivalen, Trondheim kammermusikkfestival, Oslo Griegfestival, and Maimusik Heilbronn. Larsen’s arrangements have also been recorded by LAWO Classics and 2L; his arrangements and urtext editions of Norwegian works for woodwinds are published by Edition Eufemia.
Photo: BLUNDERBUSS / Anna-Julia Granberg
