Kalev Kuljus
/ oboe
Kalev Kuljus is one of the most highly valued oboe players of our time. Since the 2003/2004 season he has been the principal oboe of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg.
He has served as concertmaster of the oboe section of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) and as principal oboist with leading European orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Filharmonica Arturo Toscanini, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and others. In 2017, Kuljus opened one of Europe's most magnificent concert halls, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, with Part I of B.Britten's "Six Metamophoses" for solo oboe.
He has been a winner of several competitions, including the chamber music competition Junge Podium Musiker in Germany (Mannheim, 2000) and the Prague Spring competition, Czech Republic (2001) and was awarded the title of best oboe player at the "Pacem in Terris" competition in Germany (Bayreuth, 2000).
As a highly acclaimed soloist, he has performed with many orchestras, including the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, ERSO and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, among others.
Kalev Kuljus is a guest lecturer at several music academies (Leipzig, Karlsruhe, Shanghai) and gives master classes all over the world.
He is a member of the chamber ensemble "Ensemble Blumina" with pianist Elisaveta Blumina and bassoonist Mathias Baier. The trio's CD with music by Previn, Françaix and Poulenc has been awarded the ECHO Classical Best Record of the Year in the 20th century chamber music category (2013). In 2014, Kalev Kuljus released a solo album of baroque concertos for oboe and oboe d'amore with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (Alba Records).
Since 2004 he has been working with the Japanese wind instrument company "Musik Josef" and since 2018 he has been playing with a self-named model "Kuljus" developed by the company. Kalev Kuljus has been awarded of the Estonian Cultural Endowment's Annual Prize (2001) and the Order of the White Star, V Class (2004).