Stephan Barratt-Due

Violin // 1.period
Stephan Barratt Due

Stephan Barratt-Due is a third-generation violinist in the traditional music family Barratt-Due. Since his debut in 1981, he has been a very active performer as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader with countless tours in Norway and internationally, as well as participated in a number of CD and TV recordings. Stephan Barratt-Due has been the rector and artistic director of the Barratt Due Music Institute since 1985.

Stephan Barratt-Due studied violin at the Oslo Academy of Music, at the Academic Internationale de Musique de Chambre in the Netherlands, with Professor Alberto Lysy at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, and with Camilla Wicks at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He plays a violin built by J. B. Guadagnini in 1751, provided by Dextra Musica.

After a sensational debut with recital and as a soloist with orchestra in 1981, Stephan Barratt-Due has been a key player in Norwegian music life. From 1990 to 1996 he was artistic director of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. At the same time, he was also one of the initiators of, and artistic director of, Kristiansand Chamber Music Festival. Since 1998, he has been the artistic director of the Oslo Camerata Chamber Orchestra, "Orchestra in Residence" at the Barratt Due Music Institute. Oslo Camerata has made a name for itself through frequent appearances in Norway and in many European countries, in South America and Asia, as well as TV productions and CD recordings for e.g. Naxos International.

Stephan Barratt-Due's personal pedagogical work is extensive. A number of his former violin students are today among the foremost musicians and soloists in Norway and internationally. Among them are Vilde Frang, Henning Kraggerud, Øyvind Bjorå, Ragnhild and Eldbjørg Hemsing, Guro Kleven Hagen, Sonoko Miriam Welde, Ludvig Gudim, Mari Silje Samuelsen and Catharina Chen. Well known was the duo collaboration with the viola player and violinist Soon-Mi Chung. The two were spouses until 2015. For their extensive efforts for Norwegian music life and their work as educators, they have together received a number of awards, including the Lindeman Prize (2007), Oslo City Culture Prize (1998), Anders Jahres Culture Prize in (2010) and Norwegian Cultural Council's honorary award (2012). Barratt Due also received the Bergesen Prize in 2000.

Stephan Barratt-Due has been appointed a Knight of the 1st class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and a Knight of the 1st class of the Order of Leion of Finland.