Our ADVISORY BOARD
Alf Bjørseth, Dr Philos.
chairman of the board
Alf has a doctor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Oslo in 1979. He taught chemistry at University of Oslo and University of Bergen, before he started as researcher at Central Institute for Industrial Research in Oslo, and later several institutes in the US. He has had several jobs in industrial research, including Corporate Director of Research of Norsk Hydro.
In 1994 he left his industry position and started developing technology companies in renewable energy and advanced materials. He has founded several companies, which currently are listed on Oslo Stock Exchange.
Alf is a Commander of the Royal St. Olavs Order in Norway, honorary member of the Chemical Society of Norway and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Technology.
He lives part time in Arvika and is an addicted supporter of Ingesund Center of Piano Excellence.
Anders Wall
Chairman of Beijer Foundation
Anders Wall is one of the most well-known and respected financiers in the Nordic Countries. He studied economics at the Stockholm School of Economics, but was headhunted in early age to a large Swedish Company, including a career in the various companies owned by the Beijer group, before he became Managing Director at Kol och Koks (later Beijerinvest). At that time, he was the youngest Managing Director of a company listed on the stock exchange in Sweden. In his carrier he has developed many companies and served on numerous boards, including Chairman of the Board of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo.
After many years in the financial world, Anders Wall devoted himself to support young talents in music, art, science and medicine. He now chairs the Kjell and Märta Beijer Foundation, which supports research, and the Anders Wall Foundation, which grants scholarships to young talents in research, entrepreneurship, rural development and music.
In this context, it is worthwhile mentioning that Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist was awarded the Anders Wall fellowship in 2006. And one of the students of IPC, Daumants Liepins was the piano winner of Anders Wall Foundation in 2020.
Douglas Sheldon
CEO Sheldon Artists
Douglas Sheldon is one of the best known and most respected artist managers in the international field of classical music. After five decades at Columbia Artists in management and as Chairman of the Board, he founded and is currently Managing Partner of Sheldon Artists LLC. He is passionately committed to a life in music, believing in its power to communicate the greatest emotions and to bring together people of differing backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.
Mr. Sheldon has represented artists and ensembles as disparate as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Alexis Weissenberg, Beaux Arts Trio, Boston Symphony, Boys Choir of Harlem, Denis Matsuev, Grace Bumbry, Jaap van Zweden, Khatia Buniatishvili, Leonard Slatkin, London Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Nationale de France, Salzburg Marionettes, Teresa Berganza and Valery Gergiev.
Robert McDonald
Professor of Piano at Juilliard & Curtis School of Music, USA
Robert McDonald is a pianist and has toured extensively as a soloist and chamber musician all over the world. He has performed with major orchestras in the US and was a recital pertner with violinist Isaac Stern for many years. He participated in the Marlboro, Casals and Lucerne festivals, performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and for broadcasts over BBC Television. He has also appeared with the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American Shanghai and St. Lawrence string quartets as well as with Musicians from Marlboro. His prizes include the gold medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International Competition, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award.
Robert McDonald holds degrees from Lawrence University, The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music. A member of the piano faculty at Juilliard since 1999. Furthermore, he has taught at the Curtis institute since 2007, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair of piano studies. During the summer, he is the artistic director of New Mexico’s Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival.
Filomentina Høgsholm
Nordic Artists Management
Copenhagen
Filomentina Høgsholm originally graduated from the Royal Academy of Copenhagen in 1999, with piano as her major instrument and vocal as her minor instrument.
She studied with Bohumila Jedlickova and Tove Lønskov, as well as high-esteemed professor Jiri Hlinka in Oslo. After a couple of years in the field of dedicated teaching, particularly focusing on youth competitions, she obtained a master degree in Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen in 2016. Alongside her studies she worked as freelance music critic and festival organizer and devoted chamber choir singer.
Filomentina Høgsholm joined Nordic Artist Management in 2016. Her position as artist manager for instrumentalists combines her passion for discovering and nurturing young talents alongside handling established artists in the Nordic Region such as Isabelle Faust and Elisabeth Leonskaja among others. Nordic Artist Management has recently established a Young Artist series for Danish talents, which prepares the young artists for a career in the classical music industry.
She lives in Copenhagen with her husband and two sons.
LEIF OVE ANDSNES
CONCERT PIANIST
BERGEN, NORWAY
With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, Leif Ove Andsnes has won worldwide acclaim, performing in the world’s leading concert halls and with its foremost orchestras. He is renowned for his interpretations of the works of Edvard Grieg. For instance, in 2002 he played Grieg's Piano Concerto at the Last Night of the Proms.
Leif Ove Andsnes records exclusively for Sony Classical. His previous discography comprises more than 30 discs for EMI Classics – solo, chamber, and concerto releases, many of them bestsellers – spanning repertoire from the time of Bach to the present day. He has been nominated for eleven Grammys and awarded many international prizes, including six Gramophone Awards.
Leif Ove Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under the renowned Czech professor Jirí Hlinka. He has also received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège who, like Hlinka, has greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. He is currently an Artistic Adviser for the Prof. Jirí Hlinka Piano Academy in Bergen where he gives annual masterclasses. Andsnes lives in Bergen with his family of three children.
Gunnar Bjursell
Professor Emeritus & Medical Scientist, Stockholm
Gunnar Bjursell is a medical scientist and Professor Emeritus from the University of Gothenburg. His research has focused on the importance of genetics in public health. While at Gothenburg University, Dr. Bjursell coordinated the Culture and Health initiative, and in recent years has been actively involved in the further development of the research field culture, the brain, and health. In particular, he has focused on studies related to the impact of music on the brain.
Dr. Bjursell now coordinates the Cultural Brain initiative at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which highlights international cutting-edge research, focusing on the translational relationship between culture/music, the brain, teaching and health. This initiative is aimed at interested researchers, leaders and representatives from political and business backgrounds, and the general public.
Within the framework of this initiative is also a combined lecture series/ PhD student course, where international speakers are invited to talk to and meet the students, as well as interested members of the public.