Grieg Academy - Grieg Academy-HiB

Grieg Academy-HiB

The original "Grieg Academy" - the music department in the Faculty of Education at Bergen University College (or HiB) - was the first institution in Norway to offer a postgraduate degree in music education, and continues to be the nation's largest music education degree program, with both undergraduate and graduate studies primarily for those who plan to become music teachers, music teacher educators, or arts researchers and cultural policy-makers. Although its emphasis is on music education rather than performance studies, the faculty includes performers, composers, conductors, and musicologists, and supports an affiliated Center for Arts, Culture, and Communication (headed by Professor Aslaug Nyrnes) to foster research in the arts, for which PhD students are frequently in residence. Notable music Professors and Lecturers at HiB include Eiliv Olsen, Thorolf Krüger (educational theorist), David G. Hebert (sociomusicologist), Tiri Bergesen Schei, Catharina Christophersen (educational researcher), Torunn Bakken Hauge (rhythmic music pedagogue), Jostein Stalheim (composer), Egil Haugland (guitarist and guitar maker) and Njål Vendenes (guitarist). The campus is currently located in Landås, a suburb of Bergen, but its new 51,000 square metre building for the entire Faculty of Education (including performing arts facilities) is now under construction at a convenient location just south of downtown Bergen, with expected completion projected to 2013. The HiB Faculty of Education currently has 2300 students and 150 staff members (around 20 of whom are full-time in music at Griegakademiet), and music is the largest graduate program offered by the Faculty. New PhD programs are also under development, as indicated in HiB's strategic plan. Notable alumni of the HiB Griegakademiet at Landås include renowned brass band conductor and arranger Tom Brevik, Opera Bergen producer and director Anne Randine Øverby, choral conductor Per Oddvar Hildre, and award-winning jazz pianist Dag Arnesen, as well as several of Norway’s most renowned songwriters and rock musicians, such as the leaders of Kaizers Orchestra and Odd Nordstoga, and the school is often given some credit for the recent “Bergen Wave" of popular music. In the fields of music academia and music industry/management, notable graduates from HiB-Grieg Academy’s music education programs include: Professor Magne Espeland, Associate Professor Steinar Saetre, Associate Professor Ketil Thorgersen, CEO Gisle Johnsen, and international festival manager/jazz pianist Oystein Kvinge. According to its website, “Grieg Academy, Bergen University College has exchange agreements with educational institutions in Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, England, Germany, USA, Australia, Greece and Austria.”