The Norwegian conductor Bjarte Engeset completed his training with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 1989. In 1990 he was a prize-winner in the Nordic Conducting Competition and since his participation in the 1991 Tanglewood Seminar he has conducted leading orchestras throughout Scandinavia, as well as in Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Estonia and the United States. He made his London début with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1997. At home he continues to play a leading part in festivals throughout Norway, working both in the concert-hall and in the opera-house. He has frequently conducted the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and shared conducting duties with Mariss Jansons during the orchestra’s three-week tour of Asia. He has been music director of the Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, artistic director of Northern Norway’s Northern Lights Festival and Opera Nord, and permanent guest conductor of the Flemish Radio Orchestra. Since 2007 he has served as chief conductor of Sweden’s DalaSinfonietta. His acclaimed recordings for Naxos include works by Svendsen, Photo: Ulf Palm Tveitt, Grieg, Irgens-Jensen, Sibelius and Sinding.

In the Light of the Midnight Sun – Bjarte Engeset talks to Jeremy Siepmann