biography

portraits

curriculum vitae

Ragnar Rasmussen is Associate Professor in choir conducting at the Music Conservatory, University of Tromso, Norway and artistic director/chief conductor of Vokal Nord vocal ensemble and the Mimas Chamber Choir – both in Tromso, Norway. During the academic year 2007/08 Mr. Rasmussen was guest professor at the Academy of Music, University of Slovenia. In 2008/10 he was also engaged as conductor of the Norwegian National Youth Choir and in year 2010 he was conductor of World Youth Choir.

He studied church music (Trondheim Music Conservatory, Norway), choir conducting with Eric Ericson and Stefan Sköld (Sweden) and orchestra conducting with Colin Metters, (Head of conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London) and Jorma Panula (professor at former Royal College of Music, Stockholm,  and at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki).

As conductor of the choirs Saga, Mimas and Vokal Nord he has numerous first prizes including several awards for best conductor in choral competitions in Norway and abroad. He successfully participated at the competitions for choral conductors in Bologna, Italy (2001) and received 1. prize ("1.editione Concorso Internazionale Direttore de Coro, Mariele Ventre") and was awared the Albo d’oro award from Fondazione Mariele Ventre, Bologna, Italy (2004).

As guest conductor he works with orchestras throughout Europe (the baroque orchestra Concerto Farinelli, Tromso Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Thüringen Philharmonie, The Serbian Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Academic Orchestra, and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra) and with choirs from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and the U.K.

Ragnar Rasmussen frequently holds lectures and workshops for conductors in Norway and abroad. He was guest lecturer at the the following institutions: The Music Conservatory (Piteå, Sweden), The Music Conservatory (Petrozavodsk, Russia), Hochshule für Musik und Theater (Hamburg, Germany), the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (Budapest, Hungary), the A.I.Herzen State Pedagogical University (St. Petersburg, Russia), the Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and The Royal Conservatory, den Haag (the Netherlands). He is often a member of juries at prestigious national and international choir and conducting competitions.

In 2007 Ragnar Rasmussen was awarded the Tromso University College Honorary Research Prize. In January 2008 he received the prestigious Northern Lights Prize for the creative artistic leadership of the choirs Mimas and Vokal Nord, his international teaching activities and for the promotion of Norwegian culture abroad and in December 2008 he was awardedthe Honorary Prize of The Town of Tromso for his extraordinary artistic achievements, his contribution to artistic enjoyment among his fellow citizens and his contributions to positive profiling of his home town. In December 2009 Norwegian Choral Association awarded him the Norwegian Choir Prize 2009 for his dedicated work at all levels in his homeland`s choral life.

Saturday Portrait in Nordlys March 17 2007
Ragnar Rasmussen conducts church music of world class standing – at the same time engaging in industrial espionage on Kaizers Orchestra.

Text: Torkil Emberland, Photo: Torgrim Rath Olsen

The baton dances on the finger tip of Ragnar Rasmussen.
“It has perfect balance. It’s actually quite heavy, but feels light.
The baton is slim, the fingertip short and stubby. Not a long and pale one you would usually associate with the piano that dominates the maestro’s office at the music conservatory.
“I don’t go for this maestro nonsense they talk about on the Continent. The baton doesn’t give you any power. If you point it at people, they just get irritable. It has to be animated.
A long, collarless suit jacket hangs behind the double, soundproofed doors. “It’s a compromise that fits in, whatever the milieu. I’ve tried a couple of times with a tuxedo, but I am from Vardø – and it’s a long way from Vardø to Venice.”
Usually he just conducts with his hands. But when he has to manage both a Norwegian choir and a German music ensemble two hands are not enough. That’s when he takes out one of two identical batons from his teacher’s case.
They are not bound for Vardø or Venice. Vokal Nord is visiting Målselv, Nordreisa and Tromsø.
“And this summer we are invited to Germany.” Rasmussen already has more bonus points than most of us. Before April is over, he has assignments in Denmark, Latvia, Austria and Slovenia – where he was recently engaged part-time as a professor.
“But the idea of travelling to Germany to perform Bach is quite extraordinary.”

“My self-confidence isn’t always as buoyant as it might appear. Especially when I’m in arenas with long and grand traditions. I guess I’m accompanied by a complex. Combined with a little devil. An underdog notion. It’s best to not think too much. The bumble bee is my favourite animal, that clumpy little creature that is too dumb to understand it can’t fly. With just a touch of stupidity and a dash of cheekiness it’s amazing what you can achieve.”
Rasmussen has managed to elevate a choir in a little town far north of the Arctic Circle to world class ranking. Trophies are gathering dust on a shelf, hidden away in a corner just below the ceiling.
“First prize, first prize and the one and only Grand Premium.
Rasmussen retrieves the application papers on his e-mail. «If you don’t consider yourselves to be among Scandinavia’s 25 best choirs, please don’t bother buying the stamps».
“For Vokal Nord’s part the trophies symbolise that we don’t need to compete anymore. It’s a thing of the past. The prizes have opened new doors for us.
“And then we have this,” says Rasmussen, while recklessly tilting the monumental «Prima edizone del concorso internazionale per direttori di coro Mariele Ventre».“It’s made of silver. A genuine Donald Duck trophy.
But how did you achieve that?
”I try to listen more than I speak. That’s important for a conductor.”
In that respect, at first glance he does not appear to be all that well-equipped.
”I have in fact never met another person with ears smaller than mine.”

After 52 hours in a tight squeeze, a ruddy head suddenly pops into sight at the maternity clinic in Vardø. The right ear was folded over.
“Will you take a look at this! The baby has music ears!” declared the midwife.
His father conducted both the male and female choirs for a generation. His mother and sister sang for all they were worth. He played in the brass band from he was six years old. In his youth he  hammered the ivories in the rock group «Frostrøyk», which had its allotted fifteen minutes of fame on television. When he was 13 years old he was engaged as the organist in Vardø, after Mrs Martinsen in the parish committee acquiesced to the demand to be paid wage level 14. He played in his own confirmation.
But he couldn’t read music. The year after he was given the key to the 15-pipe organ from Vestre’s organ & piano factory, he played just as deftly Toccata and Fuge in D Minor – studied beat for beat. Funeral marches were improvised on the spot. As when a member of the local business community was due to take his last journey. The man was legendary for being a right miser. Organist Rasmussen composed an improvised version of «Pengegaloppen» (“the Money Gallop”) at the funeral.
“In the minor key, mind you!”
Rasmussen runs over to the piano, bends over the keys and demonstrates how he managed to get this lively, frivolous melody to sound like a Russian funeral march.
“My sister caught on to what I played though.”

There was never any doubt about what he would be. He wanted to conduct. 16 years old he moved to Hamar and Toneheim folk high school, two years ahead of the official age for admittance of 18. He studied church music at the music conservatory in Trondheim.
“But I bailed out. I was never a great organist, only someone who did the job. I just wanted an education to back me up.”
Three days later he was brought back as a teacher. At the same time he created his own education, and sat the examination to qualify as a choir conductor with self-chosen syllabus. The world lay at his feet. He ended up in Tromsø.

He should have shovelled snow. Rasmussen lay awake and tossed and turned. His back was sore. On the roof what was to be called the snowy winter of the year 2000 had deposited itself meter-high. The house creaked and groaned under the weight. He had not cleared snow since his military service days at Vardøhus fortress, and there the wind had done the job for him. In Hamar he swept the stairs twice each winter.
“That was a shock.”
People were convinced that was the last they would see of you, I imagine?
“Now Rasmussen has packed his bags and tossed in the towel, was what I heard when I moved up north. Very many thought I couldn’t hack it anymore, because I also worked a lot before I moved back up north.” But he was invited up by Vokal Nord in 1998.
“There was cured leg of lamb and aquavit, candlelight and Polar darkness. I longed for the North. If they fixed up a job in Tromsø, I promised to come. They hopped to it and organised the country’s first scholarship for choir conductors. Since then I’ve never regretted a single day.”

Scholarship recipient Rasmussen proved to be a personified choral movement. He has travelled to every nook and cranny of the region, held seminars for conductors and conducted local choirs so the roof lifted from the rafters of community halls. Not to mention he has ensured that an underbrush of qualified conductors has grown forth. Amateur music is a passion he holds dear.
“Passionate driving forces like my father were pushed aside by people who had barely begun at the conservatory, but came up to Vardø to write off a study loan for a couple of years - and they wanted to get paid as well. We professionals are dependent on a thriving amateur movement.”
Why sing in a choir in Kjøllefjord?
“Singing is the most fundamental expression people have. The first you heard was hopefully that you were sung to. It’s an expression for love, joy and sorrow. The essence of a person. I am touched to tears by Vardø female choir. And it isn’t necessarily pure-toned, perfect pitched, balanced and homogenous. These are ‘ordinary’ people doing something together, and that amounts to more than just the sum of the people.”

On clear days from Vardo he could see Kola Peninsula on the horizon.
“To me the Iron Curtain was terrible. I wanted to use the music to break down boundaries. Very romantic thoughts. But I’ve always had this idea of enabling young people to meet across boundaries and sing together.”
He has succeeded with this through, among others, Barents Choral Festival.  But there was a time when Rasmussen was supposed to defend the same border.
“It’s beyond my understanding. I was a really hopeless soldier.” After having fired a few rounds, the voice of the lieutenant resounded across the rifle range at the recruit school.
“Rasmussen, that’s not funny anymore. Now, shoot at the bulls-eye!” He was quickly moved over to Vardøhus fortress. Partly for the safety of the Realm, partly because he had to practise before the admission examination for the conservatory in Trondheim, and Vardø still lacked an organist. Rasmussen’s CV is full of towns that on closer scrutiny have something in common. They have been subject to the ravages of war.
“I’ve now been invited to Guatemala. And I’m going. Not so as I can add it to my list of merits, but because I believe it will make a difference in the everyday life for people in a country on the brink of civil war if they train ten conductors. Then I will have done something that means something. I am provoked when I am asked whether it isn’t about time to become an orchestra conductor. We’re not just playing with a hobby when we sing in a choir. This is serious – and thereby rewarding.”

Rasmussen leafs respectfully through the bound score of Bach’s Mass in H Minor.
“This is perfect. That is, until we humans start to mess it up. The mass is church music’s Mount Everest.
He is something special. There’s Bach, and then there’s all the rest. After completing my education I didn’t dare do Bach for six years. There’s what you might call a Bach Mafia that keeps an eye on what you do. Either you have to be very brave, or have a lot of knowledge.”
Rasmussen settled for the latter. Recently he sat in Leipzig and leafed through a copy of the original score.
“It was only then I comprehended he was a person. I saw how he became an old man, hands shaky and blind through the 20 years it took for him to write it.”
Rasmussen holds an enthusiastic address on the symbolism of numbers in the work.
“Sanctus, The Holy Spirit. Suddenly the number three crops up everywhere. The choir is divided into three and three instruments. There are trios all over the place.”
He runs over to the piano again and plays some bass patterns.
“Everything has significance; everything fits into the total picture. I represent something that is bigger than me, even when I conduct this music. Something or other spiritual. But I wouldn’t define myself as a believer. Unfortunately. I have great respect for faiths, but I feel that I am moving further and further away from the point of departure.”

Over the writing desk hangs a framed photograph of an organ.
What did you call it? A Yamaha organ?
Rasmussen is clearly considering whether to kick us out or not, but the pedagogue in him takes over.
“Have you heard of Hammond B3? This is the big brother, RT3. Deep Purple, Procul Harum? A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Made in 1960, weighs 260 kilo and is not for sale for love or money. We had to knock down a wall in the house and hire a crane just to get it inside. I can quite honestly say it’s the most precious possession I have.”
What do you sing in the shower?
Rasmussen pulls up a cell phone with diverse megabyte music, a metallic «Oompah till you die » resounds from the loudspeaker.
“Kaizers is the favourite.”
Rasmussen has stood among sweaty young people watching Kaizers Orchestra play, with a notebook in his hand. Outright industrial espionage.
“I have tried to find out how they manage to get the audience to feel like they are the best audience in the world – every evening.”

Alain, Jehan
- POSTLUDE- Pour l´office de complies

Allegri, G.
- Miserere mei, Deus

Alnas, Eivind
- Julemotett
- Jeg lagde mig sa sildig

Alterhaug, Bjorn
- Sweet and sad
- Sov
- No koma Guds englar

Alvén, Hugo (arr.)
- Och jungfrun hon gar I dansen
- Tjuv och tjuv
- Uti var hage

Anon (Sorlige Afrika)
- I Swapo

Anon. (arr.)
- Woke up this morning

Anon. (Fransk)
- Englene pa vare marker
- Fodt er himmelens kongesonn

Anon. (Polsk)
- La oss alle ga til stallen
- Roster fra himlen
- Betlehem hviler, Betlehem drommer
- Nu er Kristus kommet
- Det er morke i stallen
- Sov lille Jesus

Arcadelt, Jaques
- Il bianco e dolce cigno

Bach, Johann Chr.
- Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren

Bach, Johann Chr. Fr.
- Wachet aut ruft uns die Stimme

Bach, Johann Sebastian
- Juleoratoriet BWV 248 1-3 (4-6 i 2009)
- Motett: Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf BWV 226
- Motett:Jesu meine Freude BWV 227
- Motett:Komm, Jesu, Komm BWV 229
- Motett:Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden BWV 230
- “Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme” - Kantate 140
- Wir glauben BWV 680.
- Messe in h-moll BWV 232

Bartok, Bela
Huszonhét két-VII,
- 2. Ne láttalak volna

Beck, Thomas
- Kvite Vengjer
- Deilig er jorden

Bello-Portu, Javier
- Mendekoste phestetan!
- Une vieille chanson d´amour

Bergh, Sverre
- And death shall have no dominion

Bernstein, Leonard
- Chichester Psalms

Bettinelli, Bruno
- Gia mi trovai di Maggio

Bjorklund, Terje
- Ecclesia
- Magnificat
- Ave Regina

Bjornstad, Kjetil
- Sommernatt ved fjorden

Bossi, Enrico
- Cantate Domino

Brahms, Johannes
- Marienlieder
- Liebeslieder- Waltzer op.52
- Ein deutsches Requiem
- Fest- und Gedenksprüche
- Klavierkonzert nr.1 in d-moll
- Geistliches Lied op.30

Britten, Benjamin
- A ceremony of carols
- A hymn to the Virgin
- A boy is born

Bruckner, Anton
- Locus Iste
- Os Justi
- Christus factus est
- Ave Maria

Busto, Javier
- Ave Maria
- Zutaz

Buxtehude, Dietrich
- Jesu, meines Lebens Leben (Kantate-Heft 9)
- Gott, hilf mir (Kantate BuxWV 34)

Casals, Paul
- O vos omnes

Clarke, Vincent
- Only You

Copi, Ambroz
- Exaudi, Domine
- O lux beata Caelitum

Dagsvik, Arne
- Sulle, rulle gulldokka mi

Debussy, Claude
- Dieu! Qu´il la fait fra Trois chansons

Desyatnikov, Leonid
- The Rite Of Winter 1949

Drage, Bjorn A.
- Biera Biera
- Stille Natt
- Var Hilset I Nordlands bebyggende Mand
- Ainel
- Bruremarsj fra Sorfold
- Viaggio del magnifico messer P. Quirino

Duruflé, Maurice
Quatre Motets:
- Tota pulchra est
- Tu es Petrus
- Ubi Caritas
- Tantum Ergo
- Requiem (for Soprano, Barytone, choir and organ)
- Notre Pere

Dvorak, Anton
- Symfoni no.9 “Aus den neuen Welt”
- Cello Concerto in B minor

Edenroth, Anders
- Alla talar med varandre
- Chili con carne
- Ett liv för mig
- Styrman Karlsson
- I sing, You sing
- Sa skimrande var aldrig havet

Egge, Klaus
- Den dag kjem aldri

Elgar, Edward
- My love dwelt in a Northern land
- Lux Aeterna (Nimrod)

Eriksson, Gunnar
- Gjendines Badnlat
- Salve Regina
- Kristallen den fina
- Mothers of Brazil
- Jag sag

Fauré, Gabriel
- Cantique de Jean Racine (for Choir and Orchestra)
- Requiem for Soprano, Barytone, Choir and Orchestra (1893 version)

Fjellheim, Frode
- A Sister From The North
- Vuosttas suotnjarat
- Nastealbmi

Flem, Kjell
- Natten

Folketone fra Lofoten (arr.Drage)
- Ret gierne vil jeg flytte
- Akk, min rose visner bort

Folketone fra Saltdal, Nordland (arr. Drage)
- I himmelen, i himmelen

Folketone, norsk
- No koma Guds englar

Forde, Jan Magne
- Bruremarsj

Gade, N.W.
- Morgensang (av ”Elverskrud”)

Gardner, John
- Tomorrow shall be my dancing day

Geibel, Adam
- Vaggvisa fran Kentucky

Gershwin, George
- Rhapsody in blue for piano and orchestra

Gjeilo, Ola
- Tota pulchra es
- Unicornis captivatur
- Amen

Górecki, Henryk
- Totus Tuus

Gough, Orlando
We turned on the light:
- Then
- We sing
- Stone
- The Machine
- We turned on the light
- And then?
- A message on the tide
- A New Tongue

Gounod, Charles
- De Profundis

Graff, Ola
- Lite bane
- Bla kveill

Gregoriansk antiphon/Gregoriansk responsorium
- Completi sunt dies Maria
- Angelus ad pastores ait: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum
- Hodie Christus natus est
- Quem vidistis,pastores?dicite: annuniate nobis
- Parvulus filius hodie natus est nobis
- Te Deum (Tonus recentior)
- Ave maris stella
- Ave Regina caelorum I.
- In honorem B. Mariae Virginis. Ave maria
- Ecce Virgo (Dominica IV. Adventus)
- Rorate caeli desuper I+II
- O Emmanuel (Antifon til Magnificat)
- Rex pacificus (I.Ant.8.G)
- Christus natus est (ad Invitatorium)
- Psalmus 94, Venite
- Cunctipotens
- Verbum caro factum est! Alleluia, alleluia!

Grieg, Edvard
Fire salmer op. 74
- I himmelen
- Guds son har gjort mig fri
- Jesus Kristus er opfaren
- Hvad est du dog skjon
- Album for mandssang op.30
- Pinsesalme (From Peer Gynt)
- Peer Gynt (Stage music)
- Varen
- Ved Rondane
- Ave Maris Stella
- Sangerhilsen

Gruber, Franz X.
- Stille Nacht

Gustafsson, Kaj-Erik
- Det är vackrast när det skymmer (Lyrics: P.Lagerkvist)

Hallberg, Bengt
- Domaredansen

Halle /folketonevar. Oppdal
- Kling no, klokka

Handel, G.F.
- The Messiah