Bjørn Kruse
Bjørn Kruse was born 1946 in London, England, and grew up in England, USA and Norway, with studies at UCLA, California, and The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, receiving his BA (clarinet major) in 1975 and his Diploma (MA) in Composition in 1977. He has taught at the academy since 1976, becoming a professor of composition in 1997. He retired in 2013 as Professor Emeritus. He has written two books on music theory and one on applied aesthetics, "Thinking Art - an interdisciplinary approach to applied aesthetics" (Norwegian Academy of Music publication). The English version is based on "Den Tenkende Kunstner", first published 1995 (Universitetsforlaget), and re-issued in 2011 (Unipub). His list of works number more than 155, including compositions for choir, chamber ensembles, several concertos and orchestra works, and four operas. His latest major work was Chronotope, for clarinet solo and large symphony orchestra, 1st perf. Jan 21, 2016, by The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. by Han-Na Chang and soloist Fredrik Fors. Among prizes won may be mentioned The Fernseh Opernpreis der Stadt Salzburg 1983, for the TV opera "A Game of Chess" (NRK prod.), and several of his works have won the Work of the Year by NOPA. Bjørn Kruse has been featured composer at amongs others, Festspillene i Nord-Norge (1994), Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden (2003), Risør Chamber Music Festival (2005), and MusikAToulouse, FRance (2010).