Dag Jensen

Bassoonist Dag Jensen began performing professionally in his mid-teens. His career as a concerto soloist and chamber player extends across Europe and into East Asia, and he is also an important educator.
Jensen was born in Horten, Norway, in 1964. He started bassoon lessons at age 11 and then entered the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, studying with Torleiv Nedberg. By 16, Jensen was a bassoonist with the Bergen Philharmonic, and he was soon promoted to co-principal bassoonist. During this period, he continued his studies in Hannover, West Germany, with Klaus Thunemann. Jensen held orchestral posts with the Bamberg Symphony (1985-1988) and the Cologne Radio Symphony (1988-1997), and he has continued to perform in an orchestral role in Japan with conductor Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra. From 2003 to 2005, he was a founding member of the Luzern Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, conducted by Claudio Abbado. The list of world-class orchestras with which he has made solo appearances is long, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra Seoul. He has also toured widely with the Sabine Meyer Wind Ensemble and the Ensemble Villa Musica.
Jensen began his recording career in 1995, joining pianist Midori Kitagawa for a recording of bassoon-and-piano works on the MDG label. He has made several more recordings for MDG, as well as albums for Animato (of Bach's viola da gamba sonatas transcribed for bassoon), Capriccio, and Mirare, where he was heard with Meyer and others on a 2020 recording of Schubert's Octet in F major, D. 803. Jensen has taught at the Hanover Academy of Music and Theatre and the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In 2011, he became a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich, Germany. ~ James Manheim