Lars Hannibal, archlute
When guitarist and lute player Lars Hannibal began playing at 15 years old, in 1966, it was the folk/rock guitar with inspiration from Bob Dylan and The Beatles. Some years later, a recording by Andres Segovia, playing the Gavotte from Bach`s E-Major Partita for violin solo, impressed him so much, that he decided to start playing the Classical guitar.
In 1972 Lars Hannibal started his guitar studies at the Conservatory in his hometown Arhus, and from 1977-80 he continued in The Hague, studying the lute by Toyohiko Satoh. Even as guitar professor Konrad Ragossnig from Basel urged him to aim at a solo career, Lars Hannibal decided to concentrate on Chamber music. In the interplay with other musicians he found his musical identity.
Immediately after finishing his studies in Arhus and The Hague, Lars Hannibal formed Duo Concertante with violinist Kim Sjogren, and as such in the period 1980 to 1994 toured in Denmark, Germany, France, Spain and UK, giving more that a thousand concerts and recording 10 CDs for EMI. From the beginning, they created a concert concept where stories, information, anecdotes and even jokes and humour were an integrated part of the performance, which often included music from different genres.
The openness of these other genres was influential in forming Birth of a Quartet in 1988 with Palle Mikkeborg and Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen. Many Danish composers wrote for this fruitful musical partnership Duo Concertante during the period.
Lars Hannibal first met recorder player Michala Petri in 1991, and a year later they married and started playing as a duo, as early as their honeymoon in Spain during the summer of 1992. Since then, they have toured the world and during the numerous concerts established a musical comprehension that is seldom heard.
The duo Petri/Hannibal released on RCA/BMG their first cd "Souvenir" in 1994, and in 1997 "Air" followed. The release "Kreisler Inspirations" from 2001 received the German Schalplattenpreis ECHO in the category chamber music. Their recording of music by Danish composer Thomas Koppel "Los Angeles Street Concerto" was awarded Best Classical CD 2006 in Denmark.
In late 2006, Michala Petri and Lars Hannibal launched their own recording company OUR Recordings. On this label they release music where at least one of them is performing, and the first release was the duo cd "Siesta".
Since 2004 Lars Hannibal has done a lot of work with Chinese music and musicians, and the concept for all this work is called Dialog - East meets West. The first recording in this artistic commitment was "Spirits-East meets West" from 2007 with Chinese Xiao player Chen Yue. The same year he formed an ensemble with Chen Yue, Michala Petri and Pipa player Yan Jiang called Quartet-East meets West. During Quartet concerts, new compositions by Chinese and European composers are played along, with Chinese and European Classical music, and creates a new exiting world of sound with these similar instruments from East and West.
Lars Hannibal
Upcoming Appearances at Chamber Music Society:
Search for Lars Hannibal CDs available for purchase at the Chamber Music Society
photo credit: Peter Olsen