Christian Grøvlen
Pianist and Museum Director | Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen
Norway
Noted for his extroverted and virtuosic playing, Norwegian pianist Christian Grøvlen began lessons at age five and by 15 was training with revered piano professor Jiri Hlinka. Christian went on to the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where he was instructed under the tutelages of renowned classical pianist Håvard Gimse and violist Lars Anders Tomter, and later polished off his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
In April 2017, Christian’s first commissioned composition Maskerade—a concert overture for string orchestra—premiered at the Mozart Festival in Fredrikstad, Norway, where it was performed by the Trondheim Soloists. Four months later, he released his debut album, BACH—Inside Polyphony. In more recent years, Christian has performed with a number of notable orchestras, including the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Nordic Harmony.
Christian is the recipient of the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize, an Arts Council Norway grant and the Bergen International Festival’s Robert Levin Festival Prize. He is currently the director of the Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen.