Trygve Madsen

Early life and education

Born in Fredrikstad, Madsen demonstrated musical ability at an early age when he began to learn to play the piano at age six and first started composing aged seven. Madsen went on to study under Egil Hovland and Erik Werba, and developed an interest in everything from the Russian masters Prokofiev and Shostakovich to the works of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, and Ravel. Madsen's personal interest in playing jazz piano and the influence that pianists such as Art Tatum, Erroll Garner and Oscar Peterson had on him can be heard in his use of the piano.

Career

Trygve Madsen has proven himself to be a prolific worker and particularly one of the most productive published by Musikk-Husets Forlag – in 2009, the company had 125 works by Madsen in their catalogue. The composer has become increasingly well known of late which has perhaps largely to do with the inclusion of his work in music syllabuses around the world - the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music included the Prelude and Fugue in C (Opus 101) as one of the optional pieces for Grade 8 pianists, and in 2009 The Dream of the Rhinoceros was used as an obligatory piece at a national horn competition in Poland. Aside from printed music, the composer has also had his work featured on thirty-six CDs, eight of which were solely dedicated to his work.

Madsen’s compositions have seen performances in Argentina, Australia, Belgium Colombia, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, USA and Austria. Several of his works are included in the curriculum at a number of educational institutions at home and abroad.

Madsen has written a number of commissioned works, including the opera Circus Terra written for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, premiered in Prague in 2002 and also performed at the 2002 Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. In commemoration of Norway’s centenary marking of independence, Madsen received a commission from the Norwegian Parliament. The resulting work, the opera Aurora, was premiered at the Halden Fort in June 2005. For the 200th anniversary of the US Military Academy of Music in New York, Madsen wrote two commissioned works: Quintet for brass Op. 120 and Concerto Grosso for brass ensemble and percussion Op. 121. Madsen’s Concertino for Horn and Orchestra is a work commissioned by the French Government by the then Minister of Culture Jaques Lang and premiered in 1984 in Dijon.

Selected works

Discography