ARTISTS 2027

German baritone Thomas E. Bauer has for many years been a sought-after soloist on the international concert stage. He received his earliest musical training as a member of the Regensburger Domspatzen and later studied at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich. Bauer has appeared with many leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and Filarmonica della Scala, working with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Zubin Mehta. His repertoire ranges from Bach and the German Lied tradition to opera and contemporary music, and he has taken part in numerous world premieres. As a Lied singer he has an extensive discography and is one of the principal artists in Naxos’s complete edition of Robert Schumann’s songs, including Dichterliebe and Liederkreis, Op. 24. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Kulturwald Festival in the Bavarian Forest, established in 2008 to bring art and culture to new settings and audiences. Thomas E. Bauer has appeared at the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival on several previous occasions, and we are delighted to welcome him back after an absence of some years.

Klaus Mäkelä is today one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation, but his musical career began with the cello. He studied both cello and conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where his cello teachers included Marko Ylönen, Timo Hanhinen and Hannu Kiiski, while his early conducting studies were with the legendary Jorma Panula. As a young cellist he was a prizewinner at the Turku Cello Competition and appeared both as a soloist and chamber musician at numerous Finnish festivals. Even as his conducting career has developed at remarkable speed, Mäkelä has continued to perform regularly as a cellist. He plays chamber music with musicians from, among others, the Orchestre de Paris and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and has appeared for several years as a cellist at the Verbier Festival. From 2020 to 2026 Mäkelä served as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, and since 2021 he has been Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris. In autumn 2027 he takes up two of the most prestigious positions in the orchestral world, as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Zell Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In Lofoten, however, we meet Klaus Mäkelä on the other side of the conductor’s podium – as a cellist and chamber musician.

Nikita Khnykin is one of the most exciting young Norwegian pianists of his generation. Born in Oslo in 2003, he has already established himself both as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2022 he received the Robert Levin Prize, and the following year he was nominated for both the Norwegian Soloist Prize and the Equinor Classical Music Award. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he was invited by Leif Ove Andsnes to perform at the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival. Khnykin studies with Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist at Ingesund College of Music in Sweden and, through the Jiri Hlinka Piano Academy, has worked closely with musicians including Leif Ove Andsnes, Håvard Gimse and Christian Ihle Hadland. Chamber music has been an important part of his musical life since his early training at the Barratt Due Institute of Music. His interests also extend to conducting and composition; his orchestral work Poeme was performed by the Oslo Philharmonic in 2021. Nikita Khnykin appeared at the Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival in 2023, and we look forward to welcoming him back.

Engegårdkvartetten ble dannet i Lofoten i 2005 og har siden etablert seg som et av Norges ledende kammermusikkensembler. Kvartetten består av Arvid Engegård og Amanda Håøy Horn, fiolin, Juliet Jopling, bratsj, og Jan Clemens Carlsen, cello. Repertoaret spenner fra den klassiske kvartettlitteraturen til norsk musikk, folkemusikk og nyskrevne verk, og kvartetten har gjort en lang rekke kritikerroste innspillinger for blant andre 2L, BIS, Simax og LAWO. I 2027 markerer Engegårdkvartetten 200-årsjubileet for Beethovens død med et av sine største prosjekter til nå: fremføringen av alle hans 16 strykekvartetter. Verkene presenteres gjennom tre festivalhelger i kvartettens eget populære «På 123»-konsept, med hver festival viet henholdsvis den tidlige, midtre og sene Beethoven. Kvartetten har utviklet «På 123» siden 2016 som en konsentrert festivalform der én komponist belyses gjennom kammermusikk, sang, soloverk, foredrag og andre kunstneriske innfallsvinkler. Engegårdkvartetten har vært quartet in residence ved Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival siden 2005 og er en sentral del av festivalens musikalske identitet. Førstefiolinist Arvid Engegård er også festivalens kunstneriske leder. For vårt publikum er kvartetten ganske enkelt festivalens eget «husband».

The Danish string quartet AKELA was founded at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2019 and consists of Clara Glasdam and Gustav Ranum, violins, Kirsten Wilbrandt Kjær, viola, and Oskar Reuben Friis-Hansen, cello. The four musicians have known and played with one another since their youth, giving the ensemble a particularly close and natural musical rapport. The name AKELA means joy – a value the quartet itself describes as the starting point for its playing and communication. They are currently enrolled as a quartet in the Academy’s advanced postgraduate programme, studying with Tim Frederiksen and the Danish String Quartet. AKELA has won first prizes at both the ENKOR International Chamber Music Competition and the LFN International Chamber Music Competition, and received the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Talent Award in 2023 and the Léonie Sonning Talent Award in 2024. The quartet is strongly committed to creating engaging and inclusive concert experiences and frequently explores new formats, storytelling and interdisciplinary collaborations. Since 2023, they have been part of the European MERITA project, which develops new approaches to the concert experience together with young string quartets and cultural venues across Europe. The Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival is the only Nordic festival participating in MERITA, and we look forward to introducing AKELA to our audience.

Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz – Double Bass (guest) Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz is one of the leading double bassists on the international music scene. Since 2013, he has been a member of Amsterdam’s renowned Concertgebouw Orchestra, having previously performed with the Berlin Philharmonic through its Karajan Academy. A prizewinner at several international competitions, he is also a highly sought-after chamber musician, appearing regularly at festivals around the world. Together with pianist Anna Fedorova, he founded the Oyster Duo. Their debut album, Stolen Pearls, received five stars from the Dutch newspaper NRC. Schwartz is also co-director of the Davidsbündler Music Academy.