Gisle Kverndokk

About Gisle Kverndokk

Gisle Kverndokk (b. 1967) is a Norwegian composer with an extensive output of sym-phonic music, music theatre and opera, church-, chamber- and film music.

He studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and at The Juilliard School. He won the Juilliard Composers' Competition in 1992 and First Prize at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1993 for young compers, and has received the Anders Jahre Junior Award for the Arts.

His orchestral works include the double concerto The Crystal Cabinet (Oslo Philharmo-nic, 2003) and Symphonic Dances (Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, 2014), which was released at SSO Recordings and nominated for a Grammy i 2020. The album „A Despera-te Light“ with orchestral music recorded by Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, was released by LAWO Classics in 2024. With librettist Øystein Wiik he has written many musicals and operas, including Martin L. (nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize) and Around the World in 80 Days, the opening production of the new Oslo opera house in 2010. A new version premiered by Landestheater Linz in 2016, won the Musical Theatre Award in Germany and Austria.

With librettist Ivar Tindberg he has written the radio opera Bokken Lasson which won the Prix Italia in 2000, and the opera The Fourth Watch of the Night (Norwegian National Opera, 2005) which won the Edvard Prize. His musical Letters from Ruth, libretto by Aksel-Otto Bull, premiered in Musical Frühling in Gmunden, Austria, i 2023, and won the German Musical Theater Award. The produc-tion at The Kammeroper in Vienna, won the Austrian Music Theater Award in 2026.

The children's opera Purriot og den forsvunne bronsehesten won the Norwegian Critics' Award in 2018, and in 2019 he was named Composer of the Year at the Norwegian Mu-sic Publishers Awards. His vocal album Fuge der Zeit with Nordic Voices was nominated for a Spellemann Award. An album with his songs, Så kort ein sommar menneska har, was released in 2021 by LAWO Classics. Gisle Kverndokk’s operas and musicals have been performed in Germany, Austria, USA, Canada and Norway. He has been performend by all the major orchestras in Norway., His last two operas, Ingrid fra Barrøy (2024) and Klovnen (2025) was both premiered by The Arctic Philharmonic.