Fredrik Ullen
Pianist Fredrik Ullén specializes in the works of Kaikhosru Sorabji and other composers whose music requires an extreme degree of virtuoso technique. In addition to performing, Ullén is a professor of neuroscience at Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
Ullén was born on April 13, 1968, in Västerås, Sweden. He attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, studying with Gunnar Hallhagen and Irène Mannheimer, and graduating in 1993. Ullén went on for further studies in Germany and Finland; the latter course was with pianist Liisa Pohjola, whom Ullén has cited as an important influence. At the same time, he was working toward a doctorate in neuroscience; he defended his dissertation at the Karolinska Institute in 1996, joined the Stockholm Brain Institute as a researcher, and became an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute in 2006, rising to become a professor of cognitive neuroscience in 2010. Ullén has toured Scandinavia, Germany, Hungary, and the U.S., also appearing at major festivals. He has performed in duets with cellist Judit Csatoszégi, percussionist Jonny Axelsson, and oboist Helen Jahren; with the latter, he has premiered works by Kim Hedås, Mårten Josjö, and others. Ullén has worked with various other contemporary composers, including György Kurtág, Mauricio Kagel, and George Flynn.
Ullén is perhaps best known for his recordings, most of which have appeared on the BIS label (a few are on Caprice). He made his debut in 1996 with the first album in a cycle of the complete piano music of György Ligeti. His 2000 album Got a Minute included works inspired by Chopin, from the 19th century to the present day. Among Ullén's most noteworthy projects is a complete set of Sorabji's 100 Transcendental Studies, which began in 2006 and concluded in 2021 with an album of Studies 84 to 100. Ullén is a member of the Prometheus Society, an organization of people with unusually high IQs.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Discography
14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Ligeti: Complete Piano Music
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 1 okt. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Got A Minute? - Paraphrases On Chopin's "Minute Waltz" and Other Works
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 30 sep. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kurtag: Games (Excerpts) / Schubert: Moment Musical (Gyorgy Kurtag - Franz Schubert)
Klassiek - Released by Caprice on 1 jan. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 44-62
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 26 okt. 2010
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji, K.: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 1-25
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 1 feb. 2006
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji, K.: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 26-43
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 17 jul. 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 84-100
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 4 dec. 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pickard: Tenebrae - Piano Concerto - Sea-Change
Fredrik Ullen, Norrköpings Symfoniorkester, Martyn Brabbins
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 1 jan. 2013
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ligeti: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 31 okt. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt - Messiaen
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 3 jul. 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 72-83
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 6 mei 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ligeti: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 28 feb. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies, Nos. 63-71
Klassiek - Released by BIS on 5 mei 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -