About
Per Arne Glorvigen (born 2 June 1963, in Drammen) is a Norwegian musician and composer, particularly known as a bandoneon and tango player. He is mentioned as one of the world's leading contemporary bandoneon players and "wizard of the buttons" (The Times).
Per Arne Glorvigen, bandoneon and musical lead, is one of the foremost bandoneonists today. He began his career as the first bandon player from Scandinavia in the late 1980s and has been living in Paris since 1987. In addition to tango, Glorvigen has expanded the repertoire to baroque, klezmer, pop and not least contemporary music. Willem Jeths, Bernd Franke, Henrik Hellstenius and Luis Naón are some of those who have written concerts for Per Arne. He has in recent years also continued his education in Paris in the composition of Éric Tanguy, and orchestration with Guillaume Connesson and his works have been played throughout Europe. In 2019 his first release with his own music came with the cellist Andreas Brantelid and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
Among Glorvigen's partners are string quartets such as Alban Berg, Leipzig and Maxwell and orchestras such as Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi Milano, Russian National Orchestra, les Solistes from Orchestre de Paris and the most important symphony orchestras in Scandinavia. He has made recordings for eg. Sony Classical, Teldec, EMI Classics and Deutsche Grammophon. His most important partner, however, has been the legendary violinist Gidon Kremer, with whom he has made four CD recordings and played with hundreds of concerts around the world. Here in Norway, perhaps his role in "Tango for 3" is best known. Per Arne Glorvigen has also worked as an entertainer and comedian, with language sketches as a specialty.
He studied with Juan José Mosalini in France. In France he appeared with France Gall and Amelita Baltar. From 1994 he worked with Gidon Kremer and they formed the Astor-Quartet with Vadim Sakharov (piano) and Alois Pusch (double bass). With Kremer he recorded 4 CDs the first named "Hommage à Piazzolla." Glorvigen has performed with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Alban Berg Quartett. He has adapted organ music by J.S. Bach to the bandoneon.
Glorvigen was named Artist in Residence at the Bergen International Festival 2006. Henrik Hellstenius' concerto for Glorvigen's bandoneon Glorvigen first performed with Oslo Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008. Willem Jeths also dedicated a bandoneon concerto to Glorvigen.