Chairman: Einar Steen-Nøkleberg

For forty years Einar Steen-Nøkleberg has been a professor at the Hannover University of Music and Drama, Germany, and at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. His recordings of the complete piano works of Grieg, Sæverud, Kjerulf and Thomas Tellefsen cover 29 CDs, and he has extensively recorded works of Bach and Beethoven. His recording of the Grieg Piano Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra was chosen by the BBC as the best on the market. His monumental recording of all Grieg's piano music, a 14 CD set, for Naxos Records has received international acclaim.

Einar Steen-Nøkleberg's international career has included repeated solo recitals in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, Mexico City, New York, Hamburg and Copenhagen. He toured the USA and the former Soviet Union several times. Concerto appearances include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Copenhagen Royal Chapel, the China Philharmonic, Beijing, the Yumiori Philharmonic Orchestra and the NHK in Tokyo and the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras in Norway.

In 1993 he founded the Oslo Grieg Society, in 1994 the Grieg Composers’ Competition and in 2000 the Concours Grieg piano competition in Oslo. Nøkleberg has received all Norwegian music prizes. In 1994 he was made a Knight, First Class, of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olav, appointed by the King of Norway for his activities for Norwegian music in general.

Einar Steen-Nøkleberg has been in the jury at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, The Scriabin International Piano Competition in Moscow, Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, All China Piano Competition in Xiamen, China and The Cleveland International Piano Competition in USA, a.o.

Einar Steen-Nøkleberg is head of the jury and musical advisor for The International Edvard Grieg Piano Competition.