Jakob Keiding is a prominent Danish hornist who has a successful career as chamber, orchestral and solo musician as well as educator.

Since 1993, he has been solo hornist at Copenhagen Phil, this was preceded by orchestral appointments at the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra. As solo hornist, he has also performed concerts and tours with orchstras in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He has also been a member of prominent chamber music ensembles such as Den Danske Horntrio, Den Danske Blæseroktet, as well as new music ensembles such as Ensemble Kontrapunkte og Ensemble die Reihe. Jakob Keiding has also recorded as a solo and ensemble artist for both radio and CD productions.

From 2003-2009, he taught horn at The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, and since 2013, he has taught horn at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. He has also taught workshops and masterclasses internationally and has been guest professor at different institutions, such as at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Frøydis Ree Wekre started playing the violin at the age of 6, and switched to the horn at the age of 17. After one year in the Norwegian Opera Orchestra, she got a position in the Oslo Philharmonic. She was employed here for 30 years, most of the time as the Co-Principal. Later she became professor of horn and chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She is known in professional circles all over the world after numerous masterclasses and concerts as a soloist and chamber musician.

Her 1992 book, Thoughts on Playing the Horn well, has been translated into 9 languages. Her latest book, Collected Writings, was published in 2020. Furthermore, she has made many CD recordings, on labels such as SIMAX, CRYSTAL and 2L. A large part of the recorded works were originally composed especially for her.

Frøydis Ree Wekre is an honorary member of the International Horn Society, and has been a regular guest at festivals such as the Sarasota Music Festival in the USA and Riva del Garda in Italy, as well as in Banff and Domaine Forget in Canada. She is still active and teaches at masterclasses at home and abroad. Frøydis Ree Wekre’s lifelong educational activity has resulted in hundreds of horn players being employed in professional ensembles in many countries.

Photo: Bård Gundersen

Nikolaj Viltoft has been solo trumpet at the Paris Opera and is now solo trumpet at the Royal Danish Orchestra and teaches trumpet at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. In addition, he has also given masterclasses internationally, at cities such as New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Köln, Lyon, Oslo, Seoul, Skopje og Sofia, Birmingham, and London.

Since the beginning of her career, Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth has championed the trumpet repertoire amongst audiences on all six continents, meriting the highest critical praise for her soulful, lyrical sound and collaborative approach to music-making. An artist who challenges the boundaries of genre with an intensely creative, open-minded philosophy, Tine’s ever-expanding repertoire ranges from the classical period to contemporary works and new commissions.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards for her work in classical music, including “Newcomer of the Year” at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards, the 2009 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and second prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition, to which Tine returned to serve as juror for the 2016 competition. In 2007, Tine had the rare honour of being the first ever classical artist to win Newcomer of the Year at the Norwegian Grammy® Awards (Spellemannprisen).

Tine has worked with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gürzenich-Orchester Cologne, Tonkünstler-Orchester Vienna, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Scottish Orchestra at the BBC Proms, Warsaw, Rotterdam, Oslo, Bergen and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras, Danish Radio and Swedish Radio Symphony orchestras, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Baltimore and Cincinnati Symphony orchestras, Singapore Symphony, KBS Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic. She also enjoys collaborating with a number of chamber orchestras, namely the Norwegian Chamber, Zurich Chamber and Munich Chamber orchestras, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Australian Chamber Orchestra, and as well as the Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, Mozarteum Salzburg, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Tine continues to embark on regular tours with her ten-piece, all-female brass ensemble tenThing. An idea which started in 2007 as a fun and exciting project to pursue with her closest musical friends, the group have gone on to play to numerous audiences across Europe, USA and China. Past festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Schleswig-Holstein, Beethoven Bonn, Gstaad, MDR Musiksommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Merano, Thüringer Bachwochen, and Bremen. This season sees tenThing return to Germany.

Tine resides in Oslo and maintains an active role in her community as a regular TV and radio presenter, and teaches trumpet at the Norwegian Academy of Music. An all-round musician, she also regularly performs in some of the most iconic jazz bars in Norway. In June 2013, Tine launched her own project, Tine@Munch, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edvard Munch, featuring a variety of performances and guest artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicola Benedetti, and Truls Mork. Since 2019, she is a member of Artistic Board at Risør Chamber Music Festival.

Photo: Anna Julia Granberg

Jesper Juul Windahl received his education as a trombonist at the Royal Academy of Music Aarhus, and furthered his studies in i Paris, Chicago, and London, as well as The Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM), where he made his debut in 1998. Jesper Juul Windahl is a highly regarded performing artist, who works internationally as orchestra musician, soloist, and chamber musician. He is an experienced educator, having taught at many conservatories, and is also active as a conductor, having received his education in conducting at RDAM.

Since 2014, Jesper has held the position of professor at RDAM. He teaches trombone and is also responsible for the brass department. Previously, he has also held teaching positions at conservatories in Aarhus, Esbjerg and Malmö, and is a teaches regularly at courses, festivals, and masterclasses nationally and internationally.

At the tender age of 23, Jesper took the position of first solo trombonist at The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and has held this prominent position since then. He has also been a member of the Athelas Sinfonietta, as well as other chamber music ensembles, such as being the founding member of The Danish Trombone Quartet and Danish Brass Quintet.

Recently, Jesper has also been active as a conductor with the Danish Chamber Orchestra, Athelas Sinfonietta, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra as well as other Danish national orchestras. From 2009-2012, he was chief conductor of the Prince’s Music Corps of the Danish Armed Forces, and is currently conductor of Concord Brass Band.

Håkan Björkman’s professional career started in the Stockholm Symphonic Wind Orchestra in 1993 as the first trombone and assistant euphonium player. After three years, he won the job to the Royal Opera Orchestra in Stockholm and held the position as principal trombone for fifteen years. Since 2010, Håkan is principal trombone in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is also holding the same position in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since 1998. Håkan Björkman is assistant professor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

He won the Christian Lindberg Solo Competition in Valencia in 2008. Håkan has made two solo CD´s, both of them can be found on Spotify. One of the major Swedish composers, Sven-David Sandström, has composed a commissioned solo concerto that was to be premiered with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Daniel Harding, in February 2021.

Håkan Björkman is frequently asked for different festivals around the world and plays solo regularly. Mr Björkman has performed as a soloist in USA, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Belgium, France, and Holland. In May 2022, Håkan will make his first festival appearance and recital in Nagoya, Japan. Håkan Björkman is a Yamaha artist and has developed two prototype trombone models in collaboration with the Yamaha company.

Jens Bjørn-Larsen is one of the most sought-after tuba soloists in the world in addition to being a successful brass pedagogue. His achievement of the first prize at the Concours International d’Execution Musicale in Geneve in 1991 marked the beginning of his extraordinary career as a tuba soloist.

Jens Bjørn-Larsen has also won the first prize at the Nordisk Solistkonkurrence and is also a receipient of the Victor Borge scholarship. He has also won the Bunkamura Award (Japan) as well as the Juventus Award in Europe.

From 1987-2005, he was solo tubist at the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and since 2010, he has been an associate member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. As soloist and orchestral musician, he has contributed to a great number of recordings.

Jens Bjørn-Larsen teaches tuba at The Royal Danish Academy of Music and at the Malmö Academy of Music. In 2002, he was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, and he has also served as guest professor at The Royal Northern College of Music at Manchester.