Conductor and Violinist

Arvid Engegård was born in Bodø, North Norway in 1963. When he was eleven, Arvid was leading his first string quartet in concerts throughout Norway, and gave his first solo performance with orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto KV 488. At age fourteen, Engegård won the Norwegian television Ole Bull Competition leading to tours of America.

 

Arvid took his instrumental diploma in Trondheim Conservatory aged sixteen. At this time Engegård played as soloist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic as a Norwegian Young Concert Artist. Arvid continued his studies on the violin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he won the school’s competition to perform as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic. While in America, Engegård had masterclasses with, among others, Isaac Stern.

 

Engegård appeared as soloist with Oslo Philharmonic performing Vieuxtemps’ Fifth Violin Concerto before going to study with Sándor Végh in Salzburg. A year after his arrival, Arvid was invited by Végh to lead Camerata Academica, a position he kept for eight years. Among many performances as leader and soloist with Camerata Academica, Arvid performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in Vienna’s Musikverein. He also recorded the complete Divertimentos by Mozart (including several violin solos most notably the Haffner Serenade) and the complete Piano Concertos by Mozart with András Schiff. During the same period Engegård recorded Bartók Contrasts for Decca.

 

In 1991 Engegård was invited to be the leader of the Orlando String Quartet. The quartet was resident in Holland and performed regularly throughout Europe. Recordings from this period include Schnittke’s Third String Quartet which was written for the Orlando String Quartet, Isang Yuns' String Quartet, and quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Grieg and Schostakovitch.

 

Arvid Engegård has appeared regularly at Europe’s most prestigious chamber music festivals, including Lockenhaus, the Salzburg Festival, Musiktage Mondsee, Mozartwoche, and the International Musician’s Seminar in Prussia Cove.

 

Since 1999 Arvid has developed a considerable career as a conductor. Orchestras he has worked with include Camerata Bern, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Camerata Academica Salzburg, Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Ljubliana Philharmonic, Maribor Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Roman, Musica Vita, Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, all the army bands in Norway, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Tromsø Symphony Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic.

 

Engegård is also in demand as a violin soloist; recent performances include solo appearances with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Nordkøping Symphony Orchestra and Camerata Bern. Arvid Engegård is the Artistic Director of Lofoten International Chamber Music Festival and in 2000 was awarded the Nordlys Prize. For the last 10 years, his main activity has been the Engegård Quartet.