Helge Slaatto
Professor de Violino na Musikhochschule, Münster
Sala B1
Currículo Helge Slaatto
The Norwegian violinist Helge Slaatto (born 1952), since 1993 professor at the Musikhochschule in Münster, Germany, before that concertmaster of the Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark, has given concerts throughout Europe, often with works composed specially for him.
He made his successful debut in Oslo in 1977 with a pure solo violin programme, a rarity at the time.
In London in the 1970'ies - together with pianist/conductor Jan Latham-Koenig and the Koenig Ensemble - he championed works by Janacek, Poulenc and Szymanowski, and the encounter with Hans Werner Henze and the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano, where Helge Slaatto was a regular guest for many years, was of lasting importance.
His teacher, the late Sandor Vegh, was a great influence, not only as far as the classical repertoire was concerned. Veghs collaboration with Bartok was a decisive inspiration: Helge Slaatto's recording of the Bartok solo sonata (2002, ambitus 96847) was highly praised by the press. Berlingske Tidende wrote: ”Rarely has a work for solo violin sounded so convincing!” and other corner stones in the 20ieth century repertoire, like the works by Berg and Schoenberg, in particular the latter's string trio, are among his favourites (e.g. Schoenberg String Trio recorded by Trio Slaatto).
The performance of Scelsi's violin concerto ”Anahit” with the Koechlin Ensemble for the Süddeutsche Rundfunk led to further involvement with contemporary music, both as orchestral musician and as soloist. For many years Helge Slaatto was concert master of Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, and the Danish composer Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen composed a violin concerto for Helge Slaatto and the Randers Chamber Orchestra, where Slaatto for several years was concert master, as well as a suite for solo violin. (He was also rewarded the special prize of the Randers Chamber Orchestra).
Helge Slaatto's more than 20 years collaboration with German double bass player Frank Reinecke has led to more than 50 premieres for the ensemble, the latest being the 70 minutes' Raga by German composer Wolfgang von Schweinitz, which had its highly successful premiere in Hamburg June 08 and was performed in Los Angeles, Munich, Berlin , Copenhagen and the Lucerne Festival. The CD recording on the label NEOS was rewarded with the "Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik".
The earlier recording of the ensemble, ”Together” (amb 97845) was praised as ”one of the best recordings of the year” and ”Street Music”, the following recording, was given maximum points by Klassik Heute (amb 96882).
The classical standard repertoire, in particular romantic music, is very close to his heart, not least due to intensive collaboration with several very fine pianist like the late Roberto Szidon, Jan Latham- Koenig, Wolfgang Plagge and Einar Steen-Nøkleberg. With Steen-Nøkleberg he performed all three Grieg sonatas at the Grieg Festival in Oslo, 2008.
Helge Slaatto is a devoted teacher, he loves teaching and being witness to the successes of young musicians. So e.g. in case of the young Suyoen Kim, who was his student for 12 years, winning top prices at several international competitions like the Mozart Competition, the Joachim Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition, and performing with conductors such as Walter Weller , Jan Latham-Koenig, Kurt Masur and Maris Jansons.
He gave courses in Germany, Greece, Denmark, Portugal, Mexico, USA and South Korea and was artistic director of the SynCrete Festival on Crete, Greece, from 1995-2000, and the Late Summer Festival in Denmark from 2014.
