Lars Dyremose
1932 - 2006Already in 1948, 16-year old Lars Bjarne began supporting himself through his accordion playing. Respectable restaurants were called music halls back then and that was where Lars Bjarne earned his living as an accordion soloist with his breakneck virtuoso performances.
In 1952 and 1953, Danish Accordion Championships were arranged, both times with Lars Bjarne as the winner of the first prize. In 1953, the first prize was one month's stay as a visiting student at the world's then only state-school of music offering accordion instruction: the Hohner School of Music in Trossingen, Württemberg, South Germany. Lars arrived, was completely overwhelmed and already in the autumn of 1953, he enrolled as a regular student at the school.
In 1956, Lars graduated as a Staatsgeprüfter Musikpädagoge (State-registered music teacher), and also won the first Original Music for accordion Competition in Karlsruhe, Germany. He entered the soloist class and took his final examination Solistische Reife (Soloist diploma) in 1957. Same year Lars started his first music school, which lead to an extensive teaching career. After his debut in the concert hall of Odd Fellow Palæet, Copenhagen, Lars Bjarne completed a three years advanced studies with professor Herman D. Koppel. He worked as a professional accordionist from 1957 to 1979, playing solo concerts as well as a number of concerts with various symphony orchestras. The composer Peter Hoch dedicated to him the work Konzertante Musik in drei Sätzen für Akkordeon und sinphonisches Orchester. The first performance took place in Copenhagen with the symphony orchestra of the Tivoli Garden. The composer Per Nørgård dedicated to him the first Scandinavian work Introduction and Toccata (1952) and Recall, concerto for accordion and orchestra which won great popularity. For instance, it was chosen as the test piece of the final round of the Klingenthaler Akkordeon Wettbewerbe during the Vogtländische Musiktage in May 1998.
In 1970, Lars Bjarne met Jeanette Dyremose and an intense partnership began. They married in 1972 and during the following years they launched a number of accordion activities, activities which are carried on even today: the Danish Accordion Ensemble, the Danish Association of Accordionists, the Danish Accordion Academy, Jollyday A/S, the Dyremose Prize, the Danish Harmonietta, the Jeanette Dyremose Academy of Music and the Jeanette & Lars Dyremose Accordion Foundation. The latter includes a large collection of historical instruments.
Lars, who took the last name Dyremose at marriage, and Jeanette were both on the staff of the Royal Chapel for a number of years, performing at many modern operas, ballets and theatre plays at the Royal Theatre. Later, followed employment at Folketeatret as well as participation in numerous radio and TV shows.
In addition to the ballet music Anno & Mikko, Lars Dyremose has written a number of accordion compositions, usually in collaboration with Jeanette Dyremose. A number of these compositions were published at Edition Wilhelm Hansen with the title DYREMOSE PIECES. Seven books and a double-CD produced by their son Helgi Dyremose. All pieces were recorded by pupils and students at the Jeanette Dyremose Academy of Music and have obtained international recognition.
In 2003, the book The living bellows play was published. This book contains all the knowledge obtained by Lars and Jeanette throughout their many years of education experience.
Jeanette Dyremose
On 16 January 1990, her birthday, Jeanette Dyremose founded the Jeanette Dyremose Academy of Music. 20 years' efforts resulted in this achievement. Jeanette Dyremose always wanted to devote her time and energy to the accordion - but in her youth, the academies of music did not include the accordion in their curricula. The organ being the most closely related instrument, Jeanette Dyremose graduated as an organ player from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1970.
Already in 1971, Jeanette Dyremose was employed as an accordionist on a contract basis at The Royal Theatre of Denmark, and in between theatre performances she had engagements with the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Denmark, e.g. on the occasion of Dmitri Sjostakoitj's visit to Copenhagen in 1973.
Having followed accordion courses as well as courses in educational theory and conductorship - in Germany, Poland as well as in the USA - Jeanette Dyremose took a lot of initiatives, all of which had the common goal: to promote the accordion. Already in 1970, she and Lars Dyremose jointly founded Harmonikacentret in Copenhagen, now the Jeanette Dyremose Academy of Music. In 1977 she founded The Danish Accordion Ensemble, now the Jeanette Dyremose Ensemble. In 1978 Jeanette & Lars created the Danish Association of Accordionists, and in 1984 - after having educated a great many students who had achieved winning talent prizes, 1st prizes and gold medals at contests such as those of the International Music Council of Unesco, the Klingenthaler Internationale Wettbewerbe, and the Berlingske Classical Music Competition - Jeanette was appointed as an accordion professor at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music, a position she retained for 16 years.
On occasion of the Academy's fifth anniversary, on 16 January 1995, Radio Denmark broadcasted the Jeanette Dyremose Ensemble's first performance of Lars Graugaard's Tempest. The first performance was one of a number of modern works which the conductor and her ensemble performed live and without notes. 1995 saw as many as five first performances. In addition to Tempest, Jesper Hendze's Mantzius Hymn, Per Nørgård's Winds I-III and Sven Erik Werner's "Written in the Sand", the Polish composer Bronislav Przybylskis's From Over for solo violin and Harmonietta was performed for the first time on New Year's Eve 31 December at midnight, at the beginning of the Copenhagen City of Culture 96.
The Dyremose Prize - a contest held for the first time in 1990 - reached its pinnacle during the Copenhagen City of Culture 96, including competitions in both solo accordion and chamber music and offering prizes totaling DKK 100,000. During the same year, Jeanette Dyremose fostered the idea of The Danish Harmonietta.
Over the years, Jeanette & Lars Dyremose have managed to create a large collection of historical accordion instruments. In 1994, this collection was donated to the Jeanette & Lars Dyremose Accordion Foundation. On 16 January 1998, the Accordion Foundation offered its first awards to young musicians who had worked hard to raise the level of the performance of accordion music.
Jeanette has published solo pieces and ensemble works, and her recordings are exemplary. A good example is the CD Sparkling Moments, in which she and her ensemble play nine of the finest works of the genre.
Jeanette travels the world teaching soloist and ensembles and during the years she has been juror in numerous international music competitions, including the Klingenthaler Internationale Akkordeon Wettbewerbe, which she now in 2018 is attending for the 37th time.