Pianists 2023
Lina Braaten
Lina Braaten is a pianist in demand among singers and instrumentalists and works as head of the piano department at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In the spring of 2018, she was a full-time rehearser at the Wermlandopera in Karlstad, and she was employed for several years at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, in the department of the Opera Academy. She has been awarded as both a chamber musician and solo pianist, with the 1st prize in the Nordic Lied Duo Competition in 2003, and 3rd prize in Malmö Nordiska Pianotävling 2004. Lina has also been a soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, held a solo recital at the prestigious Ultima Festival in Oslo, and held solo and romance concerts in Tokyo in connection with the anniversary of Edvard Grieg in 2007.
Gary Matthewman
Gary Matthewman is one of the UK’s leading song-pianists, performing worldwide, and in recent years he has gained swift recognition as an emerging conductor. As pianist, he has appeared in recital alongside many leading names in classical singing (including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Ailyn Perez, Louise Alder, Joyce DiDonato, Mark Padmore, Sir Thomas Allen, Adam Plachetka and Matthew Rose) in venues such as Wigmore Hall London, Carnegie Hall New York, Musikverein Vienna and Philharmonie Paris. As conductor, Gary’s focus is on opera and vocal repertoire, appearing in recent months for the Dutch National Opera Academy Amsterdam, Royal College of Music, Chelsea Opera Group and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz Austria. He has has been engaged as assistant conductor by Glyndebourne, Birmingham Opera Co., La Monnaie Brussels and Cape Town Opera. Gary is professor of vocal repertoire at the Royal College of Music, and a coach for the Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden.
Marina Kan Selvik
Marina Kan Selvik is winner of several international competitions: Clamo Spain, J.Vitols Latvia, German Piano Open Hannover, Nordic Piano Competition Sweden, Munich Klavierpodium and Concours Mayenne in France. Soloist with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Armenian State Orchestra, Lithuanian National Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica Murcia, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra. Marina has given solo and chamber music concerts at festivals in Japan, Canada, Germany, Lithuania and England. She graduated in solo piano from Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Royal Academy of Music, London, is a master’s degree opera repetiteur Norwegian Academy of Music and currently working at Barratt Due Music Institute. She is regularly involved in opera productions at the Opera Academy at Oslo National Academy of Arts.
Olesya Tutova
Olesya Tutova is an Opera Repetiteur and Head of Music at the Opera Academy in Oslo. She graduated from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and become a prize-winner of several international music competitions. Olesya has participated in Aix-en-provence Opera festival (France), Savonlinna Opera festival (Finland), Festival ‘Veranos de la villa de Madrid’ (Spain), Saaremaa Opera Festival (Estonia), ‘Prahova Classic Nights’ Festival (Romania), Festival of Contemporary Music (Poland), Xanten Opera Festival (Germany), 58th Wiltz Opera Festival (Luxembourg), and collaborated with Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Compañía Nacional de Teatro Clásico in Madrid, Warsaw National Opera, Wrocław Opera and Kraków Philharmonic in Poland.