Gisle Kverndokk

Gisle Kverndokk (born 3 February 1967 in Trondheim, raised in Skien) is a Norwegian contemporary composer.

In his teens, Kverndokk studied composition with Ragnar Søderlind.

Kverndokk’s first opera, The Falcon Tower, was premiered in 1990 with a cast of singers and musicians from the Norwegian Academy of Music.

The opera’s libretto was based on Erik Fosnes Hansen’s novel by the same name.

1992 saw Kverndokk being bestowed with one of the main prizes of the Juilliard Composers Competition with his orchestral work Selene.

For his work Initiasjon for fiolin og orkester, Kverndokk received the 1993 First Prize in the category for composers under the age of 30 at the International Rostrum of Composers held in Paris.

After having completed high school, Kverndokk enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music from which he graduated with diploma in 1994, having studied under the tutorship of Olav Anton Thommessen, Lasse Thoresen and Alfred Janson.

Kverndokk has also studied at the Juilliard School in New York with John Corigliano and David Diamond.

Kverndokk’s children’s opera George’s Magical Medicine was commissioned by the Kristiansund Opera and premiered in 1995 and was bestowed with a Work of the Year Prize from the Norwegian Society of Composers in the same year.

The opera has subsequently seen performances domestically by the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Bergen’s Opera Vest and by the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and internationally at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Kverndokk has composed two solo concertos, both premiered by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Concerto for oboe and orchestra (1996) and Concerto for flute and orchestra (1998).

Their first joint project was the musical Sofie’s World, premiered at the Schlossfestspielen Ettlingen, Germany in 1998.

During the 1999-2000 concert season, Kverndokk served as the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra’s composer in residence.

His Peer Gynt Fantasi was composed for violinist Arve Tellefsen and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for a summer concert premiere at Oslo's Holmenkollen in 2000.

2001 saw the premiere of the musical Vincent, which depicted the life of painter Vincent van Gogh, again at the Schlossfestspielen Ettlingen.

2002 saw the premiere of musical Dangerous Liaisons, a work based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel of the same name, at the Theater Pforzheim, Germany.

February 2003 saw his The Crystal Cabinet for violin, piano and orchestra premiered by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

In autumn 2003, Kverndokk and Wiik’s musical Homeless, based on Hector Malot’s novel, premiered at Oslo’s Det Norske Teatret.

Theater Erfurt premiered the musical "MartinL."

2005 saw Kverndokk debuting as a film composer with the score for Danish motion picture Chinaman, produced by Fine & Mellow.

at the Domstufen Festspiele in 2008.

This work was later nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize.

The children’s operas Max and Moritz and Supersize Girl, commissioned by the New York Opera Society, saw premieres in Washington, D.C. in 2010 and 2013 respectively.

With librettist and singer Øystein Wiik, Kverndokk has penned a number of musicals.

Kverndokk has composed a number of church music works including Te Deum (2010) for the Norwegian Soloist's Choir, Mass (2007) for Nordic Voices, Nidaros Mass (2010) for Nidaros Cathedral Choir and Sommerens Maria (2011).

In later years, Kverndokk has also composed a number of chamber music works, including Three Pictures (2012) for Tine Thing Helseth, the string quartet La Nouvelle Athénes (2014) for the Danish String Quartet and Offertorium (2015) for Trio ClariNord.

Kverndokk's most recently composed orchestral work is Symphonic Dances written for the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of Norway's Centenary Celebration of its Constitution in 2014.

Autumn 2015 saw the release of the album Fuge der Zeit, which featured a mass penned by Kverndokk for Nordic Voices based on the work Missa Brevis, originally commissioned by the 2002 Fartein Valen Dagene.

Kverndokk's latest chamber work, Offertorium for clarinet, cello and piano, was premiered at the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival in September 2015.