Of Norwegian origin, Mr. Austbø performed extensively in his homeland before continuing his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and the Ecole Normale de Musique. In 1970 he was the first non-French to win the "Concours National de la Guilde Française des Artistes Solistes" in Paris, and in 1971 he gained international attention when an unanimous jury awarded him the first prize of the Olivier Messiaen Competition for Contemporary Music in Royan, France.

Håkon Austbø furthered his studies at the Juilliard School, New York, at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Munich, and in London. He was prize winner of the international Munich competition (in piano duo with Marina Horak, 1974), of the Ravel Competition in Paris (1975), and, as a member of Trio du Nord, of the UNESCO International Rostrum, Bratislava (1975).

Presently based in the Netherlands, Mr. Austbø enjoys an extensive solo career throughout Europe, America and Asia, and his recordings for various labels have received international acclaim. In the CD field, he brought out excerpts from Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux on Fidelio and the 10 Skryabin sonatas on SIMAX. The latter was acclaimed as a reference recording by Gramophone Magazine and received the Norwegian Grammy award in 1990. Two years later Mr. Austbø received the same award for another SIMAX recording with the Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, and again in 1995 for Messiaen'sVingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus. This recording, part of a NAXOS project that will include the complete Messiaen piano music, was also chosen by Classic CD as the best available version of the work. The next item in this project, the complete Catalogue d'Oiseaux coupled with Petites Esquisses d'Oiseaux, was awarded the Edison prize 1998 for the best solo recording. The 8 Préludes and the 4 Etudes de Rythme have also been released. His discography further includes a Schumann recording for Vanguard Classics and the Norse melodrama EddaDa with the actress Juni Dahr.

Mr. Austbø received the prize of the Norwegian music critics in 1989 and was chosen "Performer of the Year" in Norway in 1992. He teaches piano major at the Amsterdam conservatory and is moreover first vice president of the international Skryabin Society, Moscow. As a propagator or Skryabin's work, he is the initiator and artistic director of the LUCE-project that offers a unique realisation of the colour part in the symphonic poem Prometheus.

Reviews

When Austbø plays, another interpretation is absolutely unthinkable.

Mischa Spel - Het Parool (Amsterdam)
 

The culmination of the festival, though, was not all this gorgeous old music. Pianist Håkon Austbø played Messiaen's Vingt Regards in a marathon session from eleven to one thirty at night he played out these emotions in all their gradations, he established musical connections and brought unity into Messiaen's vivid style. For the chosen ones present, this performance probably came closest to the sacred experience aimed at in this Maastricht festival.

Paul Luttikhuis - NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam)
 

Performed anywhere in the world the concert would have brought about a sensation. And so it was, indeed, for those present on Sunday evening when Håkon Austbø played Messiaen's two hour cycle Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus. I heard the work myself at several occasions and with first class musicians but never experienced anything close to what Austbø achieved on Sunday. ... There is much talk about the joy at the rich accretion of Norwegian musicians in the last years. However, this joy is substantially deepened through the secret jubilation at performers of Austbø's stature, repeatedly setting a standard that others may reach for.

Ståle Wikshåland - Dagbladet (Oslo)
 

This is one of the finest sets of Vingt Regards available: Austbo can be hypnotic with his rhythmic control of these very difficult pieces, but he is not a show off either, and his slow phrases 'breathe' very naturally and patiently.

American Record Guide
 

Several complementary virtues conspire to make this recording by the Norwegian pianist Håkon Austbø by far the most satisfying Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus in the current catalogue

Classic CD 'Collector's Choice'
 

Austbø's gentle intensity catches the music's extraordinary atmosphere and his moments of percussive boldness get the dramatic writing a grippingly strong profile Recommended without reservation

Classic CD
 

My disc of the year: Definitely a three-disc Naxos set of Olivier Messiaen's mighty piano cycle Catalogue d'oiseaux ... Håkon Austbø is the soloist, and his great achievement was to vividly project the extraordinary range of touch and colour in these pieces without ever over-advertising the extremities of their virtuosic demands.

Terry Blain - Classic CD
 

It is not often that one gets to hear a pianist whose performance leaves a lingering impression upon the listener's senses. Haakon Austbo is just such a pianist. From the first note that he struck. he held the listener spellbound. His charisma and intense personality infused even the pauses within the music, accordingly now dramatic, now dreamy, now waiting, now tense. And then galvanised by some hidden, inner energy, his hands would encompass the entire keyboard in the fast and furious passages as well as coax the sweetest of sounds in the most delicate of music phrases.

Flavia De Souza - New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur)
 

There were performances which one will remember for years to come: .. revelatory, flaming performances of Scriabin by pianist Håkon Austbø

Hilary Finch, The Times (London)

Contact details and further information

E-mail Håkon Austbø

For further details, see Håkon Austbø's website