Teigland, Åse

Åse Teigland plays the Hardanger fiddle, and was early recognised  as one of Norway’s most accomplished performers on that instrument. She won the Norwegian championship in folk music in 2005, the first time that a woman was the single winner in the Hardanger fiddle category of the National Contest for Traditional Music. She has toured extensively in Norway, the rest of Europe and Asia. Her debut recording, Dansarsteinen, was released in 1998, and she received the two-year Government Grant for Artists in 2002. She held a showcase concert at Folkelarm in Oslo in 2006. Important teachers and sources of inspiration for her have been Knut Hamre, Stein Versto, Ingeleiv and Olav Kvammen, Halldor Meland, Anders Kjerland and Eivind Mo. She studied folk music at Telemark University College from 1994 to 1996 and at the School for Instrumental Studies at Ole Bull Academy from 1998 to 2000, and also holds a degree in teaching. She was a member of Åtte Potte, a group formed by students at the Ole Bull Academy’s Schools for Instrumental and Vocal Studies, from 1998 to 2001. Teigland was Norway’s representative to the European Youth Folk Orchestra (2001-2003). She currently plays in the group Skrekk (since 2000) and the trio HARDANGER (since 1999). Together with Hardanger fiddlers Anne Hytta and Synnøve S. Bjørset, she has been involved in a solo concert project, Dei beste damene, since 2006. Teigland is a free-lance musician, and has been awarded a Government Grant for Artists. She is planning to produce her second solo recording in the near future. Since the autumn of 2007 she has been collaborating with Snorre Bjerck, Marianne Juvik Sæbø, Signe Bakke and the concert administration in the county of Hordaland on a production about Grieg at the famous composer’s home, Troldhaugen, in Bergen.

Discography

1998: Dansarsteinen (NOR-DC), solo recording
2000: Håstabøståttar (Heilo/Grappa)
2002: Enfants terribles (European Youth Folk Orchestra)
2003: Trio Hardanger (2L)
2004: SKREKK (Heilo/Grappa)

Awards

1993: Sagaprisen (award for promising young folk music artists
1997: Øivind Bergh Memorial Award
1998: Sparebanken Vest’s Anniversary Prize
2000: Nominated for Spellemannsprisen (Norwegian Grammy) for Håstabøståttar (Heilo/Grappa)

Press/broadcasts

This biography was produced by the Norwegian Traditional Music Agency.