Jørn Fossheim

Jørn Fossheim began his musical career as a pianist and has behind him many years of solo performances at home and abroad. He made his debut in Oslo in 1995 with Rachmaninov’s 3rd piano concerto, to very good reviews.

Fossheim’s strong identification with Russian music has led to several journeys there, right from his student years, and Russia has gradually become his second home. He has an especially close relationship with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he has performed as soloist on a number of occasions. Together they have also made a CD recording of Issay Dobrowen’s piano concerto, issued by Simax (PSC1246).

In parallel with his work as a pianist, in 2004 Fossheim began to study orchestral conducting with Alexander Polishchuk at the conservatory in St Petersburg. Since then Jørn Fossheim has first and foremost appeared as a conductor. In the last decade he has been permanently attached to two Russian opera houses – first as deputy conductor at the State Opera in Karelia, later as chief conductor at the State Opera in Buryatia. At these theatres he has, over the years, directed hundreds of performances, spread across more than 25 productions – besides guest appearances for other theatres and symphony orchestras. His repertoire includes standard works such as Tosca, La Bohème, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Aida, Carmen and Eugene Onegin, but also less performed works such as Prince Igor (Borodin), The Fair at Sorochyntsi (Mussorgsky), Konyok Gorbunok (The Little Humpbacked Horse) and Anna Karenina (Shchedrin). Besides the theatre repertoire, Fossheim has also been particularly noted for his interpretations of the symphonic works of Rachmaninov and Glazunov.

In Norway he has conducted, amongst others, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Norwegian Opera and Ballet. He is also one of the main editors the project Norsk Musikkarv (Norwegian Music Heritage), which is behind critical editions of selected Norwegian works.

Sept. 2020