Trumpet -World.com

Håkan Hardenberger (born 1961, Malmö) is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with Pierre Thibaud, and in Los Angeles with Thomas Stevens. He has quickly established a career as a virtuoso who possesses not only an impressive command of the classical repertoire, but has also commissioned many new works from contemporary composers, including Harrison Birtwistle, Hans Werner Henze, Rolf Martinsson, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Heinz Karl Gruber and Arvo Pärt. Hardenberger has even been called "the best trumpeter on earth" by The Times.

Håkan Hardenberger performs with the world's leading orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Vienna and London Philharmonics, London Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Orchester des Bayerische Rundfunk, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and NHK Symphony Orchestra. Conductors he regularly collaborates with include Paavo Berglund, Pierre Boulez, Alan Gilbert, Daniel Harding, Neeme Järvi, Ingo Metzmacher, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Storgårds, Thomas Dausgaard and David Zinman. He is a frequent guest at the major festivals of Lucerne, Salzburg and the BBC Proms, and has given recitals in the Konzerthaus Vienna, Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zürich and Musikhalle Hamburg.


The list of works written for, and championed by Hardenberger, now stand as key highlights in the trumpet repertoire including works of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Hans Werner Henze, Rolf Martinsson, Olga Neuwirth, Arvo Pärt and Mark Anthony Turnage. HK Gruber's concerto Aerial has received in excess of 40 performances by Hardenberger and will be highlighted at the 2007 Proms Brass Day with the BBC Philharmonic under the direction of André de Ridder. This Proms "special" also marks Hardenberger's conducting debut with members of the BBC Philharmonic and Royal Northern College of Music Brass.

Of Hardenberger's extensive discography on the Philips, EMI and BIS Records labels two discs were released in 2006; solo works for BIS Records, and a disc of Turnage, Gruber and Eotv?s works with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Peter Eötvös for Deutsche Grammophon which has justly received high praise.

Listen to Hakan Hardenberger Playing.