Truls Mørk

Truls Otterbech Mørk (born 25 April, 1961) is a Norwegian cellist.

He was born in Bergen, Norway, the child of two professional musicians, his father a cellist and his mother a pianist. His mother began teaching him the piano when he was seven. He also played the violin, but soon switched to the cello, taking lessons from his father.

Mørk started studying with Frans Helmerson at 17 at the renowned Edsberg Music Institute. An admirer of Mstislav Rostropovich and the Russian school of cello, Mørk went on to study with the Russian cellist Natalia Schakowskaya.

In 1982, Mørk became the first Scandinavian musician to reach the finals of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and won 6th Prize. He subsequently went on to win 2nd prize at the 1986 Naumberg Competition in New York and, in 1986, the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence. In 1989, he embarked on his first major concert tour, soloing with many of the finest orchestras of Europe. In 1994, he toured the United States with the Oslo Philharmonic, including debuts at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

At present, Mørk is ubiquitous on the international concert scene. His extensive discography spans from a Grammy-award-winning recording of the Shostakovich Cello Concertos to a critically acclaimed recording of Bach's Suites for Solo Cello. Mørk's passionate interest in chamber music led to the foundation of the International Chamber Music Festival of Stavanger.

Mørk holds a Professorship at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo.

Mørk plays a rare "Domenico Montagnana" (Venice, 1723) cello, the scroll of which was made by Stradivarius. It once belonged to a Belgian gentleman who named it the "Esquire". It was bought by a bank in Norway (SR Bank), and is on loan to him [cite web
last =
first =
coauthors = Johann D'Souza, Benjamin Chee
title = MASTERS SERIES, Haydn and the Creatures of Prometheus
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Singapore Symphony Orchestra
date = 25 November 2000
url = http://inkpot.com/concert/sso001125.html
accessdate = 2006-08-20] .

References

External links

* [http://www.trulsmork.com Official website]
* [http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/mork.htm Interview with Truls Mørk]
* [http://www.nmh.no/en Norwegian Academy of Music, where Truls Mørk teaches]