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Today six recipients of The Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Honorary Award 2025 were announced. OUR Recordings wishes their artist, Michala Petri and the five other recipients of the Honorary Award the warmest congratulations!.
The six outstanding Danish artists will each receive Denmark’s largest honorary award of 1,000,000 DKK. The composers Kirstine Lindemann, Signe Lykke, and Bára Gísladóttir; the musicians Bjarke Mogensen and Michala Petri; and the singer Stephen Milling.

About the Foundation:
Carl Nielsen is undoubtedly the Danish composer who has achieved the widest international acclaim in the classical music world through his symphonies and chamber music. Having composed approximately 300 songs, he is also known to the Danish public as a major contributor to the unique Danish song treasury.

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was the most significant female sculptor in Danish history, with a large production and often working abroad. She was the first female sculptor in the world to receive a commission to build an equestrian statue of a king.

In 1957 the couples two daughters, Irmelin Eggert Møller and Anne Marie Telmanyi, established "Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Foundation" in memory of their parents. The capital of the foundation is primarily established on basis on the income from the artists rights. Each year, the foundation grants honorary awards to Danish sculptors, composers, and musicians, alternating between even and odd years. In addition to the honorary awards, the foundation also distributes talent prizes and supports projects that highlight the artistic contributions of Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen.
For more information, visit: www.nielsen-legat.dk.

Motivations by professor in viola and chamber music Tim Frederiksen:

Michala Petri
“Michala Petri is a living legend. For half a century she has been the leading soloist on her instrument, the recorder. With extraordinary virtuosity and personal musicality, she has set a standard for the recorder which has greatly inspired many musicians in both baroque and contemporary music, as well as having performed with many internationally renowned artists.”

Bjarke Mogensen
“Musicality is paramount when Bjarke Mogensen takes the stage with his instrument, the accordion. Whether performing as a soloist in a newly composed work, delivered with passionate, engaging commitment, or playing a delicate sonata by Scarlatti, where just a few measures convince you that it was originally written for the instrument, his deeply felt interpretation, full of character and personality, captures the essence of the music.”

Thank you to Thomas Michelsen, and a HUGE congratulations to Henrik Dam Thomsen and producer Mikkel Nymand, as well as to the Beckett Foundation, without whose support this recording would not have been possible.

"The Strongest Danish Performance of the Year:
It was a solo album: classical music for cello recorded by Henrik Dam Thomsen. The principal cellist of the DR Symphony Orchestra has been working to find the perfect interpretation of Bach's six famous cello suites since he was ten years old.
This year, he recorded them and even produced a video in the TikTok-promoted yellow brick cathedral of Grundtvig's Church. However, it is the album itself, the sound of the cello in perfect acoustics, namely the baroque wooden space of Garnisons Church, which is a much better church for the purpose, that truly stands out.
Henrik Dam Thomsen plays the six suites with introspective dreaminess. Expressive and with an extremely elegant sense of how the music can unfold, it seems to both speak and think at the same time.
The album, which I awarded six hearts, is not without Danish competitors. While Dam Thomsen’s release marked his passing of the age of 50, Trio con Brio marked their 25th anniversary as an ensemble with music by Schubert and Weinberg on The Passenger.
But Bach's suites, in a recording that has since been chosen as Editor’s Choice by the esteemed Gramophone magazine and nominated for an International Classical Music Award, must be considered this year’s Danish album of the year".

A huge congratulations to Jakob Buchanan for receiving the prestigious award as Jazz Composer of the Year for his work SONG & WIND. Congratulations also go out to the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir, percussionist Marilyn Mazur, conductor Carsten Seyer-Hansen, and producer Preben Iwan.
Following the international success of his Requiem for Jazz band, choir and orchestra, SONG & WIND is a meditative oratorio on ecological themes. Expressed in searching humanistic tones of characteristic of so much Scandinavian symphonic art-jazz, is a timeless work his time is now.

Congratulations to Henrik Dam Thomsen and Mikkel Nymand with the ICMA 2025 Nomination. This release has received great reviews all over the world,- so hopefully the album will go all the way and get the ICMA price next year!

The reception of the Danish cellist's recording of J.S. Bach's iconic *Six Suites for Solo Cello* has been overwhelming. The album has received enthusiastic reviews and top ratings everywhere. The English magazine *Gramophone* selected the release as Editor's Choice. The production, with Mikkel Nymand as producer, has also garnered significant international recognition. The album was also released in Dolby Atmos format.

World premiere recordings of Carl Nielsen's own arrangements for four-hand piano have also been released. The album *ESPANSIVA* featuring two of Denmark's finest pianists, Rikke Sandberg and Kristoffer Hyldig, has just been released and has already received considerable national and international attention. Producer Preben Iwan’s sound engineering has, as usual, earned top marks, and this album is also available in Dolby Atmos format.

We have just uploaded OUR Recordings’ 8th release, featuring the Danish composer Axel Borup-Jørgensen, who would have turned 100 on November 22nd this year. The album consists of some of the composer’s chamber music works, and we are very pleased to have collaborated with the wonderful Esbjerg Ensemble on this album. The album will be released on November 15th.

You can read much more about the releases on the website.

This summer, OUR Recordings has primarily been working on three new releases.

1.J.S. Bach: SIX SUITES FOR CELLO SOLO** with the Danish cello virtuoso Henrik Dam Thomsen, which will be released on Friday, August 23rd. This album has already received much international attention from the press and has scored top marks everywhere. The album was recorded by producer Mikkel Nymand in the fantastic acoustics of Garnisons Kirken in Copenhagen and will be available on both CD and in Dolby Atmos format on streaming services.

2.An album featuring world premiere recordings of Carl Nielsen’s own arrangements for four-hand piano with two of Denmark’s leading pianists, Rikke Sandberg and Kristoffer Hyldig. Both pianists have previously released on OUR Recordings. The album, titled ESPANSIVA, will be released on both CD and vinyl, and also in Dolby Atmos format on streaming services. The album is recorded in The Queens Hall at The Black Diamond in Copenhagen by producer Preben Iwan. The album will be released on September 6th.

3.This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Danish modernist Axel Borup-Jørgensen. To commemorate this, OUR Recordings has recorded a new album featuring the composer’s chamber music. We are very pleased that the Esbjerg Ensemble and pianist Kristoffer Hyldig agreed to record this album. We are finalizing the album at the end of August for a worldwide release in early November. Producer Mette Due has recorded the album. OUR Recordings already released 8 albums with music by Axel Borup-Jørgensen.

The last few monthes has been extremely busy with recordings of new releadses,- planning upcoming releases,conferences in Brugge (IAMA) Berlin (Classical:NEXT) Egeskov Castle in the VL Forum for business leaders in Denmark about AI, and KODA conference on AI in the music busines. Also OUR Recordings have moved to another office in the same bulding, just better,- but everything takes time!
Producer Mette Due and I have been to Endrupholm 4 times to record with Esbjerg Ensemble and pianist Kristoffer Hyldig, chambermusic and solo works by late Danish composer Axel Borup-Jørgensen, who would have turned 100 years old in November this year. We only have one piece left,- and I can assure you that it will be a great album,- scheduled to be released ultimo October. We have finished and uploaded a fantastic recording of Bach Six cello suites with Henrik Dam Thomsen, producer Mikkel Nymand, release is scheduled to be August 23th,- also in the Dolby Atmos format. We ase now in the process of editing a new album with Danish National Vocal Ensemble and their new chief conductore Martina Batic,- and the music is by Slovenian composer Uros Krek, and Danish composer Else Marie Pade,- release is scheduled to be November, producer Mikkel Nymand. Carl Nielsen wrote a version of his 3. symphony "Espansiva" for 4 hand piano,- and we are very happy to relese this album in september with Rikke Sandberg and Kristoffer Hyldig,- also to be heard in the Dolby Atmos format,- producer Preben Iwan

A patchwork of J.S. Bach and Symphonic Rock music from the 60th and 70th

Music by The Doors, J.S.Bach, Savage Rose, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen and Procol Harum
All organ arrangements by Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen·

In these arrangements, the connection between Bach and Rock is underlined by a direct interweaving of rock music with quotations from Johann Sebastian Bach, with the result that the music flows together in a patchwork of baroque organ, Bach and symphonic rock “STAIRWAY to BACH – Rock classics with a hint of Bach”.

Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen is Professor and Head of Department for Organ and Church Music at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, and performs extensively throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia.
Featured on this delightful genre-blending program is the glorious Marcussen organ in the Concert Hall of The Royal Danish Academy of Music.

The multiple award winning Aros Guitar Duo's debut Album IN TIME present 6 new compositions mad for the duo by 6 Danish composers. The concept for the album is that all compositions include a 500 years old ode (tune) that is played from the bell tower of the City Hall in Aarhus. The City Hall is designed by the famous Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. Even it is 6 different composers you feel that IN TIME is 1 piece of music in 6 movements.

Motivation letter
Distinguished Honorees Announced
We are proud to bring you the newest selection of talented recipients of Global Music Awards.

The Global Music Awards is a well-known international music competition that celebrates independent musicians. Global Music Awards is widely recognized by industry insiders as giving legitimacy to highly talented artists. Global Music Awards is recognized as music's golden seal of approval.

Janne Fredens and Søren Rastogi have been awarded Global Music Award’s Best in Show honors for their album Upheaval in the category chamber music. In this work, cellist Fredens and pianist Rastogi give new life to twelve compositions written solely by four women in the early 20th century. Each composer has her own wonderful story and achievements, but many of their works are now scarcely played. Fredens and Rastogi have given these gifts back to us with stunning performances. The dynamic compositions and instrumentation makes this album an exciting listen, suggesting Upheaval as much as the composers bucked the norms of their day. This collection of superb works by female composers, played by two highly talented musicians, is sure to impress.