Ingar Bergby

Conductor Ingar Bergby is the great generalist of Norwegian music, leading performances of everything from symphonic repertoire to contemporary works to military band music. He specializes in Norwegian and Nordic music and has made several important recordings in this field. Bergby was born in Sarpsborg, Norway, on February 4, 1964. His family was musical, and when he was young, he played clarinet in wind bands in the area. Bergby attended the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, studying clarinet with Richard Kjelstrup, but he then switched to conducting, working in Oslo with Karsten Andersen and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with the famed teacher Jorma Panula. He graduated from the Norwegian Academy in 1991 and soon landed posts as the chief conductor of Opera Vest (now the Bergen National Opera) and of the contemporary music ensemble Bit20. With the latter group, he made his recording debut in 1997 on the Aurora label, on an album of music by Edward Hagerup Bull, a nephew of Ole Bull. In 1999, Bergby became the chief conductor of the Värmland Opera and Värmland Sinfonietta, and in 2003, he became first guest conductor of the Norwegian Wind Ensemble and permanent guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, with responsibility for Norwegian and other Nordic repertoire. He has also made guest conducting appearances with many major Norwegian orchestras and with ensembles in Iceland, Sweden, and continental Europe. Since 1993, he has also had regular engagements with ensembles associated with the Norwegian broadcasting network KORK, and in this capacity, he has conducted a wide range of crossover music as well as a cycle of Brahms' symphonies. Bergby was named chief conductor of the Royal Norwegian Marines Music Corps in 2008 and moved to a similar position with the Norwegian Navy Music Corps in 2015. With the latter group, he issued the album Symphonies of Wind Instruments in 2014. He has been heard on the Lawo Classics label on recordings of Norwegian music in the 2010s and 2020s. In 2017, he teamed with flutist Tom Ottar Andreassen and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra on the album La Flûte Norvégienne, and he returned in 2021 with Norwegian Opera Overtures, featuring the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra.
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