Lars Notto Birkeland

About Lars Notto Birkeland

Lars Notto Birkeland (b. 1969) is one of Norway's leading concert organists, and maintains an extensive career as a pianist, conductor, accompanist, and educator. Since 2014 he has served as an organist at Akershus Castle Church in Oslo. He was previously organist at Fagerborg Church in Oslo, has taught at the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Barratt Due Institute of Music, and has worked as répétiteur and chorus master at the Norwegian National Opera.

He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Professor Harald Herresthal, continued his training with Kåre Nordstoga in Oslo and Guy Bovet in Switzerland, and participated in numerous masterclasses with artists such as Marie-Claire Alain, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, and Jon Laukvik. Birkeland made his debut in Oslo Cathedral in 1998 and is active as a concert organist both in Norway and abroad. With the Oslo Philharmonic, he has appeared as a soloist in Poulenc's Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony, among other works, and has performed with several other orchestras and at major festivals throughout Norway and Europe.

He places strong emphasis on chamber music and interdisciplinary collaborations. In 2011 he released a critically acclaimed recording of Jehan Alain's complete organ works (Simax Classics), followed in 2018 by a recording of concertos for organ, percussion, and string orchestra by Bjørn Kruse and Kjell Habbestad, in collaboration with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Aurora Records). Birkeland also works extensively with organ transcriptions of orchestral music. Since 2025 he has been the recipient of Norway's 10-year Government Grant for Established Artists.