BJØRN H. KRUSE (1946) is educated at the UCLA (California, USA) 1967-68 and at the Norwegian Academy of Music – Norges Musikkhøgskole - where he took his composition graduation
diploma in 1977. He has been working as composer and performer within most musical genres.
His compositions have been performed throughout Europe and the USA and he has received numerous awards for his works. Since 1976 he is teaching at the Norwegian Academy of Music where he presently is holding a professor’s chair.

GISLE KVERNDOKK (1967) studied composition with Ragnar Søderlind and took his graduation diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music (1994) after having studied with Olav Anton Thommessen, Lasse Thoresen and Alfred Janson. He also studied with John Corigliano and David
Diamond at The Juilliard School in New York. Kverndokk has among other opuses composed concerts, operas, musicals as well as motion picture music and has received a series of awards for his work.

HENRIK ØDEGAARD (1955) is a trained music teacher, organist and composer graduated both from Bergen Musikkonservatorium and the Norwegian Academy of Music where he took his graduation
examination in composition in 1990 with Lasse Thoresen as teacher. He studied also in Utrecht and Paris. Ødegaard has worked since 1982 as organist and choir director in Sauherad (Telemark),
where he currently thrives in a vital traditional Norwegian folk music environment which is increasingly present in his compositions.

The TELEMARK CHAMBER ORCHESTRA is a project motivated string ensemble that has enabled itself to establish a high performance artistic profile. Lars-Erik ter Jung is the orchestra’s Artistic Director ever since 1992. Most of its members are connected to the musical environment in Telemark, thus TKO organizes its concert projects in co-operation with Telemarkkonsertar. The repertoire embraces the traditionally classic and the contemporary and one of the main
characteristics of the orchestra’s tasks is commissions from Norwegian composers. With Telemark as origo, it’s but natural to include folkloristic musical elements in certain projects. Telemark
Chamber Orchestra is sponsored among others by Norsk Kulturråd, Telemark Fylkeskommune, Telemarkkonsertar, Telemark Musikkråd, Fond for Lyd og Bilde and Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere.

The debut in 1980 of Norwegian violinist LARS-ERIK TER JUNG has led to a varied musical activity including solo engagements with the major Norwegian orchestras and artistic directorship
of numerous chamber music and chamber orchestra projects, as he was also the principal concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1980 to 1994. ter Jung is now extensively building up a career as a conductor.

VOKALENSEMBLET COR is a professional project based vocal ensemble. Its conductor Thorbjørn Dyrud is a church musician and choir conductor educated at the Norwegian Academy of
Music and at Kungliga Musikhögskolan in Stockholm. Dyrud has worked among others with Det Norske Solistkor and Sveriges Radiokör, and he has built up one of Norway’s foremost and well
established vocal ensembles of today, Ginnungagap. At the same time he is working as composer as well as improvisation musician.

PER ANDERS BUEN GARNÅS (1980) from Bø i Telemark, became Norway’s youngest folk musician in Class A hardangerfiddle when he at age 19 succeeded to play himself up in the elite class at
the Landskappleiken national musician competition in 1999, which he won in 2003. For more than 10 years he has carried out a most comprehensive concert touring programme in Norway, and
has performed concerts in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Austria, USA and Bangladesh. He has graduated from the 2 year long professional study for folk musicians at the Ole Bull-Akademiet.

TORGEIR STRAAND (1981) from Bø i Telemark, qualified in 2000 to Class A hardangerfiddle, and he still is Norway’s youngest in that category. Both Alfred Amundsen and Anund Roheim have been
his teachers. Although Straand still is attached to the local Bø musical traditions, he has studied the hardangerfiddle traditions from other districts. He has won several top scores at musical competitions and has performed in concerts in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, USA and India.

LIV HOLTSKOG (1934) did her debut in 1966 with the poetry collection “Kanskje ein”. Music has been sat to many of her verses, especially by Gisle Kverndokk, Henrik Ødegaard, Sigmund Groven and Magnar Åm. She has published a series of poetry collections, and she is among others represented in Ivar Havnevik’s book “Dikt i Norge. Lyrikkhistorie 200 – 2000”.