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The Norwegian baritone, Eirik P. Krokfjord, obtained his Master of Music degre in classical singing from The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where he studied with Svein Bjørkøy and Folke Bengtsson. Since 2015 he has been a student of Yngve A. Søberg, before commencing studies with Luis Ledesma in 2020.
Eirik Krokfjord has appeared as a soloist with with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Accademia Bizantina (Director: Ottavio Dantone), Capella Vitalis Berlin, Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán, Det Norske Solistkor, Norwegian Wind Ensemble, and numerous times with Barokkanerne, Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, Oslo Domkor, Ensemble Aksiom and Ensemble LinGon. This has led to collaborations with esteemed conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Jorge Parodi, Alessandro Tampieri, Grete Pedersen, Rolf Gupta, Svein Rustad and Vivianne Sydnes..
On the opera stage, Eirik Krokfjord has portrayed Gianni Schicchi in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress, Leporello in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni and Silvio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, appeared in The Norwegian National Theatre's (Nationaltheatret) main stage production of Strindberg’s A Dream Play, performed in Rom for Dans’ dance theatre production The Underland, and featured at the Brazilian early music festival Semana de Música Antiga.
Possessing a particular expertise as a soloist in the field of early music, Eirik Krokfjord has performed Rameau, Mazzocchi and Theile as well as J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann, in a vast repertoire that stretches from renaissance monody to Wagnerian and veristic opera. He has performed such works as J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), G.F. Handel's Messiah, J. Haydn's Nelson Messe and Theresienmesse and C. Monteverdi's Mariavesper, as well as several of J.S. Bach's cantatas at home and abroad, as well as Requiems of W.A. Mozart, Johannes Brahmss, Iver Kleive, Carl Rütti, Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Duruflé, and Passions of Heinrich Schütz and Johann Theile.
Eirik Krokfjord also has extensive experience performing contemporary music, notable examples including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King, Dominick Argento’s The Andrée Expedition and the leading role as Prime Minister Christian Michelsen in Kjell Habbestad’s opera Karlstad 1905, as well as works by notable composers such as György Ligeti, Kaija Saariaho and Alfred Janson. He has repeatedly been entrusted with world premieres of new music in Norway, most notably with Ensemble Aksiom in works by Martin Ødegaard.
Luis Ledesma has described Eirik Krokfjord as "one of the most interesting dramatic baritones I have ever worked with." On his musicianship, Johan Nicolai Mohn of Barokkanerne has described Krokfjord as "an excellent singer with extraordinary expressive power." Said Jon Fredrik Hjemli of Nivalis Barokk, Krokfjord is "a soloist with a lot of musical creativity, [who] expresses well - crucial when you perform baroque music." Lars Henrik Johansen of CasalEmilio concurred, stating "[Krokfjord] possesses a rare ability to combine professionalism and good singing technique with artistic exploration (...) I have however never heard him choose musical interpretations solely for the sake of flashy effects; his interpretational alternatives are always the fruits of a serious and well-founded process."
In 2022, Eirik Krokfjord was appointed lead singer of the Norwegian doom metal band Funeral. |
