ENSEMBLE EDGE ARTIST BIOS

Artistic director: Martha Marie Petri (* 1989)
is a cellist and a certified Suzuki teacher. In addition to her conservatory studies, Martha has gained comprehensive and valuable experience in her work as a teacher and by promoting and building festivals for new music (New Music For Strings) and cello pedagogy (AARHUS CELLO EXPO). Martha has taken both a bachelor's and a master's degree at the Academy of Music in Aarhus, where she has specialized in contemporary music and pedagogy in recent years. In 2015, she took a year's break to travel to Chicago (Northwestern University) to experience / get inspiration from American culture. Martha has received several awards and awards from eg. The Augustine Foundation, the Idella Foundation, Jacob Thune Gades Legat, the Fulbright Commission, the Nordea Foundation, the Odd Fellows scholarship for young music students and the Danish Arts Foundation (through its organizational work with the vocal ensemble ENSEMBLE EDGE). Most recently, Martha, as the only Danish artist, has been selected by the Danish Arts Foundation in July 2019 to take a three-week internship course at the New Yorker composer collective Bang on a Can's summer festival in Massachusetts (USA).

Conductor: Mathias Skaarup Sørensen (* 1989)
is a trained percussionist and works as a conductor for ENSEMBLE EDGE and the chamber orchestra Bellbird. Mathias has conducted several recently composed operas, including performances of the chamber opera "River's Edge" by composer Tan Tuan Hao in 2016 and "AGONY" by composer Line Tjørnhøj in 2017. In 2015, Mathias completed his bachelor's degree in classical percussion at the DJM in Aarhus and then took a two-year break from his studies to get a taste of life as a freelance musician. At the moment, Mathias is in the process of completing his master's degree in choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark.

Producer: Andrea Krüger Holm (* 1980)
graduated cand. mag. in Musicology and Danish and also cand. musicae with a major in Classical Choir Conducting from The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. She has also immersed herself in song, applied anatomy, performance and voice rehabilitation at the Anne Rosing Institute in Hellerup, Denmark. Andrea is an experienced singer, choir leader, teacher and song consultant, among others at Sangens Hus and Sangkraft Aarhus, she teaches several courses at Dansk Musiker Forbund and has her own company, where she provides voice rehabilitation for professional singers and speakers. Read more at www.revoice.dk Andrea has sung with ENSEMBLE EDGE ever since it started in 2016, and has now taken on the producer role to support the ensemble's professional work.

Lauren Biglow
Singer, web designer and PR coordinator for ENSEMBLE EDGE Lauren Millar Biglow (b. 1993) is an American choral singer from Los Altos, California, who began her singing career in Chicago, Illinois. Lauren graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 with a dual degree: a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. Her recent engagements include the Chicago Symphony Chorus (2017-18 season), the Grant Park Music Festival (2017) and the Chicago Bach Festival (2016). Lauren is one of the primary coordinators of the management, promotion and production of ENSEMBLE EDGE. She is a self-taught web / graphic designer, and she has founded the online presence of the cello festival AARHUS CELLO EXPO 2018.

Conductor: A. J. Keller (*1986)
Ambitious, well-rounded musician with a wide variety of professional performance and educational experiences. Has experience conducting and teaching all ages and ability levels as well as preparing choruses for opera and choral/orchestral performances. Principal interests include music of the 20th and 21st centuries, music of social responsibility, the plurality of compositional style in a post-genre musical landscape, the role of the performing artist as curator, interdisciplinary artistic curation, and the role of the arts in the intellectually provocative space of the 21st- century academy.
Presently looking for academic and professional conducting and teaching positions with an emphasis on choral music. Qualified to conduct ensembles at all levels and to teach courses in conducting, choral literature, musicology, music theory, and general music as well as private voice.

Calle Brickman
is a Swedish pianist who, as a 16 year old, already played his first tour in Europe. He has since made a living off of his career as a musician and plays both jazz and classical piano. He has won several awards for his skills; as an 18-year-old he was granted the "Charlie Norman's award", which was then the most prestigious prize for pianists in jazz music. Calle is recognizable for his virtuosity, his soft touch, and his Nordic sound.

Karmen Rõivassepp
is an Estonian jazz vocalist, composer and organizer who has lived in Denmark in recent years. She has a clear tone and is always playful and effortless in her performance. She grew up as a pianist and is a skilled improviser with great knowledge of jazz harmonies. Karmen works as a lead singer and composer in many ensembles, ranging from smaller jazz groups and experimental trios to big band music, all of which reveal her versatile essence as a jazz musician.

Matthias Flemming Petri (* 1991)
is a bassist, composer, and arranger. Since his introduction to the Danish jazz scene, he has been one of the most sought-after bassists in the young jazz environment. Matthias is educated at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen and the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

Andreas Fryland
is one of the new faces on the Danish and European jazz scene. A versatile drummer who has played in most of Europe with the likes of Tineke Postma, Teddy Charles, Kenny Werner, Sam Yahel, Peter Beets, Hugo Rasmussen and Jan Harbeck. His recordings include Thomas Hass quartet "answer theory" and the critically acclaimed "Prelude" with trio Wolff / Angiuli / Fryland, as well as the DMA nominated "Land and Sky" (Legardh & Flosasson). In 2013, Andreas En DMA and Aske Drasbæk Group won the release "Old Ghost".

Klavs Kehlet Hansen
https://kehletvideo.dk/

Kristine Mågård
has sung since childhood. As a 15-year-old she took a year at the OrchestraEfterskole in Holstebro, which opened the doors of Sankt Annæ Gymnasium in Copenhagen. Her solo vocal work took off when, in 2012, she was admitted to Vadstena Folkhögskola, where she sang the role of Countess Almaviva in the school's production of Figaro's Wedding (W.A. Mozart) in 2014. Since then, she has taken her bachelor's degree (2014 - 2017) at the Danish Academy of Music in Aarhus under song teacher Bodil Øland, and most recently she was a soloist-undergraduate (in the role of Ursula) and choral singing in The Danish Opera's production of the opera "Nothing", based on Janne Teller's youth novel of the same name.

Animation instructor: Mette Skov (* 1974)
has a bachelor's degree in Visual Communication from the Danish Design School. She is an educated animation instructor from The Danish Film School in 2006 and has since made short films and TV series for children. Mette has primarily dedicated her career to writing, illustrating and animating children's television programs, including the popular TV show "Little Finger."

Asbjørn Faleide Fristad
is a Norwegian choir conductor based in Aarhus. He is a Cand. Musicae in classical choir conducting and master in rhythmic choir conducting from The Academy of Music. In addition, he is a trained pedagogue educator from the music conservatory at the University of Tromsø. Currently he is studying classical choir leadership in the soloist class at the Academy of Music in Denmark. In the spring of 2018, Asbjørn will be at the conductor stage during The Danish Academy of Music's setup of the Magic Flute.