ARTIST BACKGROUND OSLO KAMMERAKADEMI Oslo Kammerakademi is a new ensemble with some of Scandinavia's leading wind soloists. Oslo Philharmonic's solo oboist, David Friedemann Strunck, is the initiator and artistic director of the ensemble. The ensemble is unique in Scandinavia, playing as it does chamber music for wind instruments with classical harmony music instrumentation as a basis, and using historical brass instruments of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoire to give the sound both authenticity and transparency. Since their debut in Oslo in December 2009, the musicians have quickly developed a reputation for being one of Norway's most exciting chamber ensembles. Oslo Kammerakademi traveled abroad for the first time in the summer of 2010, performing two concerts as part of the programme of the European Capital of Culture "Ruhr 2010" in Dortmund. The ensemble's activities in 2011 included, among other things, concert performances at Gloger Festival (Kongsberg) and Valdres Festival and at German festivals in Schleswig-Holstein and Rheingau, as well as a collaboration with NRK P2 marking the centenary of the death of Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen. In August 2012 Oslo Kammerakademi received rave reviews following its appearance at Summerwinds Münsterland woodwind festival in Münster, Germany. Performance highlights in 2013 were an invitation to Trondheim Chamber Music Festival and a short tour of Norway together with Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, as well as premieres of pieces by Morten Gaathaug and Magnar Am. The ensemble's performance programme in 2014 included appearances in Norway at Gloger Festival and the Fartein Valen Festival. In 2012 Oslo Kammerakademi released its first CD, Beethoven for Wind Octet (LWC1036), and in 2014 its second recording, Leipzig! (LWC1058) Both releases received glowing reviews in Norway and abroad. BBC Music Magazine gave the first of these recording five stars (of five possible)! Oslo Kammerakademi offers its own concert series at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, where the ensemble in 2015 premiered Retour á la Nature by Norwegian composer Ketil Hvoslef.