Njål Sparbo

Njål Sparbo is one of Norway’s most active and versatile singers, with an exceptionally broad repertoire of song, oratorio and opera.

He has had more than 150 Lieder recitals together with Norway's leading pianists. His recordings of "Grieg & Schubert: Songs", and Schubert’s "Winterreise", have been highly praised, and the first volume of a CD-anthology of Norwegian songs has been released: ”Norge, mitt Norge!”

In 1997-99 and 2005-08 he received The Norwegian Government Grant for Artists in to work with the art song tradition. He has been awarded the Kirsten Flagstad Prize, the Ingrid Bjoner Prize, and in 2009 he received the Grieg Prize for his contribution to renew the musical interpretation tradition of Grieg’s songs by bringing forth the dramatical essence after performances all of Edvard Grieg’s 172 songs in a series of 7 concerts in Bergen in conjunction with Grieg's 100th year commemoration.

Njål Sparbo is a merited oratorio singer with more than 50 major oratorios on his repertoire, and he has sung leading parts in numerous opera productions. He is an advocate of contemporary music and has sung numerous world premiere performances of Norwegian composers, including 11 contemporary opera productions.

In 2009-2014 he worked as a research fellow at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in The Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme with the project «Singing on the stage - with a psychophysical approach.»

He has continued as a researcher of psychophysical stage presence, combining contemporary aesthetics with the tradition of Norwegian Psychomotor Therapy, and he has engagements as associate professor at the Academy of Opera and at the Academy of Ballet at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. In 2014-15 he joined the research group «The Reflective Musician - Interpretation as Co-Creative Process» at the National Academy of Music in Oslo.

He performs regularly at festivals and on television and radio, and he has participated in 32 CD recordings. His solo engagements include all the major Norwegian choirs and orchestras and The Norwegian National Opera. He is to be heard performing at venues all over Europe, including Russia, USA, Japan and South Korea.

Among his performances abroad are Mahler’s ”Lieder eines fahrendes Gesellen” with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London, Bach’s ”Christmas Oratorio” with the Drotningholm's Baroque Orchestra in Uppsala and Rossini’s ”Petite Messe Sollenelle” in Köln Philharmonie, Kverno's "St. Matthew passion" in New York and Saul in Handel's "Saul" at the London Handel Festival.