Christian Ihle Hadland

Christian Ihle Hadland (1983) is widely recognized as one of Norway’s most exciting pianists and following his recital debut at the Norwegian Opera in 2008 was hailed in the Norwegian press as an artist who “…shows himself as a unique musician whose artistry should be heard on the world’s concert stages.” Christian Ihle Hadland was born in Stavanger in 1983 and received his first piano lessons at the age of eight. At the age of eleven he was enrolled at the Rogaland Music Conservatory, and in 1999 began lessons with professor Jiri Hlinka, both privately and at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. 

Christian made his Norwegian debut with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra at the age of 15, and has since gone on to perform with all of Norway’s leading orchestras, including several appearances with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as having appeared with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish Radio Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra among others. Christian has played with renowned conductors at the highest level, including Sir Andrew Davis, Herbert Blomstedt and Thomas Dausgaard.

Christian is already highly sought-after both recital and as a chamber musician and has appeared several times in prestigious venues and festivals such as Wigmore Hall, Risør Chamber Music Festival, the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival and Kissinger Sommer. Since 2004 he has appeared annually at the Bergen International Festival as both a solo recitalist and in chamber groups and he has collaborated with such prestigious artists as Janine Jansen, Henning Kraggerud, Lars Anders Tomter, Tabea Zimmermann, Clemens Hagen, Christian Poltera and Truls Mørk. In 2015 he gave a three-week chamber music tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and American mezzo Susan Graham. 

In 2006 he was invited to accompany Renée Fleming at the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo which was televised to a global audience of many millions. Christian released his debut solo album in April 2010 for Simax Classics. This recording of works by Chopin and Schumann in their 200 year anniversary year has attracted great interest and strong reviews across the board. In 2012 he released Mozart piano concertos nos. 21 and 22 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, also to great critical acclaim. These recordings follow on from the highly successful recording partnership between Christian and Henning Kraggerud where they recorded works by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding for Naxos label. Christian has also collaborated with singer Isa Katharina Gericke in 2009 to produce recording of Eva Nansen’s work, also for Simax Classics called “Til Eva”. Christian’s Holberg Variations CD, recorded with Ensemble 1B1, won the Spellemann Prize in 2015. His recording of works for cello and piano by Grieg and Granger, made with the Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid, was released on BIS in 2015 and immediately named a Gramophone Editor’s Choice. His most recent album The Lark, released on Simax, was immediately nominated for Spellemann prize 2017. 

In 2009 he received the Statoil award for young classical artists, and that same year became Co-Artistic Director of the Stavanger Chamber Music Festival with Martin Fröst. In 2011 he was selected for the prestigious BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme.

March 2018