TOR ESPEN ASPAAS (b. 1971) is one of the most outstanding Norwegian pianists and music communicators of his generation. He gained his postgraduate soloist’s diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 1996. In 2006 he was appointed university professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music where he is currently doing a research project looking into the role of improvisation in the creative processes and works of Ludwig van Beethoven – with emphasis on the cycle of 32 piano sonatas that Aspaas is preparing for complete performances in the Beethoven Year 2020. He has received numerous grants and awards (the more recent are: the Lindeman-prize, the Levin-prize, and the Nils Larsen Grant) and he has appeared as a soloist with several international orchestras, as well as with all of Norway’s professional orchestras since his first engagements with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000 (Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor) and 2002 (Ravel’s G major Concerto). Among the many conductors Aspaas has collaborated with in his solo career are Frans Brüggen, Vasily Sinaysky, Michel Plasson, Stefan Karpe, Christian Eggen, Krzysztof Urbanski, Bjarte Engeset, Rolf Gupta, Peter Szilvay and Arvid Engegard. In 2011 Aspaas gave the premier performance of Olav Anton Thommessen’s Third piano concerto, commissioned by the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. With TSO he also premiered Terje Bjørklund’s First piano concerto, under the baton of Daniel Blendulf. More info on torespenaspaas.no,