NJÅL SPARBO
Njål Sparbo is one of Norway’s most active and versatile singers, with an exceptionally broad repertoire spanning art song, oratorio, and opera. He studied singing with Jan Sødal, Aase Nordmo Løvberg, Ingrid Bjoner, and Tor Hommeren in Norway and attended master classes with Hans Hotter, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kurt Moll, Jorma Hynninen, Thomas Hemsley, Edith Mathis, Galina Vishnevskaya, and Oren Brown. Following his official debut concert in 1991, he distinguished himself as a performer with a particular interest in contemporary music, leading to numerous commissions, world premieres, stage productions, and recordings.
Sparbo is a merited oratorio singer, with more than 50 major oratorios in his repertoire, and has sung leading roles in numerous opera productions. He has been an advocate for contemporary music, performing numerous world premieres by Norwegian composers, including 11 contemporary opera productions. His recordings of Grieg & Schubert: Songs and Schubert’s Winterreise have received high praise, and he has released four volumes of a CD anthology featuring 61 Norwegian songs spanning 150 years.
He has been a soloist with all the major Norwegian choirs, orchestras, and the Norwegian National Opera, performing throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. In Norway, he has given more than 150 Lieder recitals with the nation’s leading pianists and many appearances on radio and television. His discography comprises 34 recordings, demonstrating his extensive engagement with both classical and contemporary vocal music.
Sparbo has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, including the Kirsten Flagstad Prize, the Ingrid Bjoner Prize, and, in 2009, the Grieg Prize for his contribution to renewing the musical interpretation tradition of Grieg’s songs by bringing forth their dramatic essence. He was recognized for his performances of all 172 songs by Edvard Grieg in a seven-concert series in Bergen, held in conjunction with Grieg's 100th-year commemoration.
He received the Norwegian Government Grant for Artists for two periods, 1997–1999 and 2005–2008, to study the art song tradition. From 2009 to 2014, he was a research fellow at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts within the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme, working on the project "Singing on the Stage – with a Psychophysical Approach."
In 2014–2015, he joined the research group "The Reflective Musician – Interpretation as a Co-creative Process" at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and from 2017 to 2020, he participated in the University of Bergen’s research project "(Un-) settling Sites and Styles – in Search of New Expressive Means," focusing on Sonotical Interpretations of 70 Songs by Geirr Tveitt.
His research integrates contemporary aesthetics with the Norwegian psychomotor tradition, drawing from Konstantin Stanislavski, Rudolf Laban, Jacques Lecoq, Roy Hart, Peter Brook, Anne Bogart, Tina Landau, Patsy Rodenburg, Berit Heir Bunkan, and Lasse Thoresen.
As an educator, Sparbo teaches singing and psychophysical presence to many performing artists. He holds lectures, master classes, and seminars and is a sought-after teacher for singers, choirs, and ensembles. He has been engaged as an associate professor at the Opera and Ballet Academies at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and is currently an associate professor at the University of Bergen. In 2020–2021, he studied choral conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music and is currently the artistic director and conductor of the Norwegian chamber choir Viken Vokal.
Sparbo has conducted peer reviews at the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the University College of Opera in Stockholm. He has served as managing director of the Oslo Grieg Society and festival director of the Oslo Grieg Festival. Additionally, he has been a board member of the Norwegian Operatic Association, the Artists' Union Scholarship Committee, and the International Edvard Grieg Society.
His international solo engagements include performances across Europe, the United States, and Asia. Highlights include Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra in Uppsala, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at Köln Philharmonie, Kverno's St. Matthew Passion in New York, Handel’s Saul at the London Handel Festival, and Mendelssohn's St. Paul in Seoul.
As an entrepreneur, he founded the company Quattro Arts and Music in 1992, producing concerts, recordings, sheet music, design, and websites for artists, as well as art installations and live events.