Per Norgård

Full biography Per Norgård

Per Norgård is a Danish composer born on July 13, 1932, in Gentofte, Denmark. He is well-known for his contributions to contemporary classical music and his pioneering work in the fields of microtonal music and spectral music. Norgård has also explored various musical styles in his compositions, including opera, chamber music, and symphonic music.

Norgård began his musical education at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he studied composition with Vagn Holmboe. He is among the first Danish composers to be influenced by the international avant-garde, and his early works show the influence of aleatoric and serial techniques.

Norgård's breakthrough came in the 1960s with works such as "Concerto in Due Tempi," "Voyage into the Golden Screen," and "I Ching." These compositions showcased his explorations of microtonality and spectral techniques, which were largely new to the classical music world at the time. His music has been described as deeply spiritual, and his use of dissonance often conveys a sense of mystery.

Over the years, Norgård has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark's highest musical honor, in 1996. He has also been invited to teach and lecture at several prestigious universities around the world, including Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego.

Norgård has continued to compose into his late 80s, with recent works including the 2018 opera "The Divine Circus," based on a play by the Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and the 2019 string quintet "Habet, Sicut Serpentes," inspired by the biblical passage "Be ye therefore wise as serpents."