Per Nørgård

Per Nørgård (; 13 July 1932 – 28 May 2025) was a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style varied considerably throughout his career, his music often included repeatedly evolving melodies, in the vein of Jean Sibelius, and a perspicuous focus on lyricism. He based music on “infinity series” and other mathematical models. He composed large-scale works, eight symphonies including the choral Third, concertos and operas such as Gilgamesh. His chamber music includes ten string quartets and music for guitar. Some later works were inspired by the art of Adolf Wölfli. The composer Julian Anderson called Nørgård’s style “one of the most personal in contemporary music”. Nørgård received several awards, including the 2016 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. Life and career Per Nørgård was born in Gentofte, a suburb of Copenhagen on 13 July 1932. His father was a tailor, and he grew up with an elder brother. He learned to play the piano as a boy. and Herman David Koppel. Between 1958 and 1962, Nørgård had a stint as a music critic for the newspaper Politiken. He left these positions in 1965 to teach composition at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg. There, he taught many composer