Christian Ihle Hadland

Christian Ihle Hadland is widely recognized as one of Norway’s most exciting young piano talents and following his recital debut at the Norwegian Opera in 2008 was hailed in the Norwegian press as an artist who ..’shows himself as a unique musician whose artistry should be heard on the world’s concert stages’.

Christian Ihle Hadland was born in Stavanger in 1983 and received his first piano lessons at the age of eight. At the age of eleven he was enrolled at the Rogaland Music Conservatory, and in 1999 began lessons with Professor Jiri Hlinka, both privately and at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo.

Christian made his Norwegian debut with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra at the age of 15, and has since gone on to perform with all of Norway’s leading orchestras, including several appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as having appeared with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish Radio Orchestra, NDR Hannover, the BBC Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra among others.  In February 2013 he will tour the UK with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra performing Grieg and Beethoven.

Christian is already highly sought-after both in recital and as a chamber musician and has appeared several times in prestigious venues and festivals such as Wigmore Hall, Risør Chamber Music Festival, the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival and Kissinger Sommer. Since 2004 he has appeared annually at the Bergen International Festival as both a solo recitalist and in chamber groups, and in 2011 he performed the Grieg Piano Concerto as part of the Festival´s 50^th Anniversary celebrations with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has collaborated in chamber music with such prestigious artists as Janine Jansen, Henning Kraggerud, Lars Anders Tomter, Steven Isserlis, Tabea Zimmermann, Clemens Hagen, Christian Poltera and Truls Mørk.  In 2009 Christian was appointed joint Artistic Director of the Stavanger Chamber Music Festival alongside Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst.

Christian released his debut solo album in April 2010 for Simax Classics. This recording of works by Chopin and Schumann in their 200 year anniversary year attracted great deal of interest with positive reviews across the board. This recording follows on from the highly successful recording partnership between Christian and Henning Kraggerud where they recorded working by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding for Naxos label. Christian also collaborated with singer, Isa Katharina Gericke in 2009 to produce recording of Eva Nansen’s work, also for Simax Classics called “Til Eva”.  His next venture for Simax Classics is a recording of Mozart Piano Concertos with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra / Arvid Engegård to be released in January 2013.

In 2009 he became the latest recipient of the Statoil award for young classical artists, and was selected for the prestigious BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme in 2011.