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Described in International Record Review as «definitely a name to look out for», Norwegian lyric baritone Ørjan Hartveit graduated from Trinity College of Music, London, in 2005 with First Class Honours and subsequently went on to study with Russell Smythe, as well as appearing in master classes with Elly Ameling, Graham Johnson and Malcolm Martineau.
He has appeared in concert in Bergen, Bloomington (IN), Cologne, Hamburg, Hardanger, Heraklion, London, New York, Prague and Vilnius in collaboration with accompanists and conductors such as Marlon Daniel, Michalis Angelakis, Eugene Asti, Geir Botnen, Daniela Candillari and Tarek al-Shubbak. His concert and oratorio repertoire stretches from Bach, Händel and Charpentier to Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, and also includes works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Fauré, Puccini, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Stravinsky. Having a keen interest in contemporary music, he premièred Hampson Sisler's Music In The Soul with Ensemble du Monde under Marlon Daniel at the Merkin Hall (New York) in 2007, and in 2009 he was invited to take part in the première of Heilagbrotet, an historical play by Torunn Ystaas with incidental music by Henrik Ødegaard, in Norway. On the operatic stage he has performed Il Conte (Le nozze di Figaro) for St John's Opera Company (Maidenhead); Lakai and Haushofmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Ensemble du Monde (New York) and Raguel's Men (Jonathan Dove: Tobias and the Angel) for English Touring Opera.
Ørjan has recorded works by Ralph Vaughan Williams for choir and baritone on the album Where Hope is Shining (Albion Records) with Joyful Company of Singers/Peter Broadbent and songs by Geirr Tveitt on the recently released Geirr Tveitt – Piano Works and Songs (KinnePiano), which contains several world premières. He is a recipient of the Cyril Cork Prize (2003) for 'outstanding performance' and the TCM Trust Silver Medal (2005).
