Håkan Hardenberger

The virtuoso trumpet playing of Sweden’s Håkan Hardenberger has inspired many new works for the instrument. Hardenberger has a large recording catalog and is generally regarded as one of the world’s leading trumpeters.
Hardenberger was born in Malmö, Sweden, on October 27, 1961. He began studying the trumpet there with Bo Nilsson when he was eight and worked with him for some years before moving to France for further studies at the Conservatoire de Paris with Pierre Thibaud, and then to Los Angeles for work with Thomas Stevens. Very early on, Hardenberger conceived the ambition of becoming a world-class trumpet virtuoso, and after a stint in the Swedish military’s music brigade, he launched his professional career. His recording career began in 1985 on the BIS label with The Virtuoso Trumpet, an album of 20th century works on which he was accompanied by pianist Roland Pöntinen. Hardenberger soon signed with the Philips label and released several albums of standard trumpet repertory, which he has performed frequently, but he showed a strong commitment to contemporary music from early in his career.
Hardenberger has commissioned new works from a wide variety of contemporary composers, working in many different styles. These include Hans Werner Henze, Arvo Pärt, Toru Takemitsu, Sally Beamish, and Harrison Birtwistle, as well as a large number of Scandinavian composers. He has especially been associated with composer Heinz Karl Gruber, whose work Aerial (1999) he has performed more than 60 times. Hardenberger has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, as well as in a variety of chamber music ensembles. Between concerts, he teaches trumpet at the University of Malmö. Hardenberger recorded for Decca, Ondine, Dacapo, and other labels, but he has had an ongoing relationship with BIS, where he released the album French Trumpet Concertos in 2022. By that time, his recording catalog comprised some 30 items. ~ James Manheim