Lars Anders Tomter
Viola

Lars Anders Tomter is one of today's most outstanding violists. He is a Professor at the State Academy in Oslo, supervising a number of Norway's most talented string players. He plays a Gasparo da Salo viola dated from 1590.
The Giant of the Nordic Viola (The Strad) was born at Hamar, Norway. He began to play the violin at the age of eight and also took up the viola.
Both instruments he studied with Professor Leif Jørgensen at the Oslo Music Conservatory and the Norwegian State Academy. He then continued his studies with Professor Max Rostal and with Sándor Vegh. He was awarded a special prize for his interpretation of Bartók's Viola Concerto at the International Viola Competition in Budapest in 1984 and then went on to win the Maurice Vieux International Competition in Lille in 1986.

Lars Anders Tomter's international solo career started in 1987/88 when he toured extensively in the United States and Germany with the prestigious Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under its director Iona Brown. Since then his appearances as a viola soloist has been greeted with the highest public and critical acclaim throughout Europe and the United States, from the Vienna Musikverein to major venues in Scandinavia, Madrid, Budapest, Berlin, Bonn, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Paris, Prague, Rome, London, New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.
Engagements during the past seasons have seen Lars Anders Tomter among others at festivals such as Schubertiade, styriarte, Moritzburg, Delft, Verbier, and Schwetzingen. He appeared with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, with the Trio Jean Paul at the Konzerthaus Berlin, with the Oslo Philharmonic, conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and he performed in Amsterdam, London, Montréal, Rotterdam, Seoul, Taipei and Sao Paulo.

With beginning of the season 2008/09 Lars Anders Tomter will play the new viola concerto "Illuminati" which Erkki-Sven Tüür has written for him. The world premiere will take place with the Sønderjyllands Symphony Orchestra, one of the concerto's co-commissioner'S. The other co-commissioners are the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra ERSO, the NDR Radio Philharmonic Hannover, the Orchestre National de Lille, and Norsk Kulturråd. In July 2008 Lars Anders Tomter has premiered the viola concerto of Ragnar Söderlind within the Elverum Festival. Also this concerto has been written especially for Lars Anders Tomter.