The FIGURA Members

Helene Gjerris (mezzosoprano)

Her all-embracing talent has captivated audiences and composers alike since the middle of the 1990s. Even before she made her official debut in 1997 she had emerged as an unusual figure in Danish musical life. Several new works have been written especially for her. Helene Gjerris trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, but some of her professional secret may also come from several years of study at a London school for carnival and street performers. In contemporary music in particular, her charismatic performance comes into its own. At the beginning of her career Helene Gjerris sang Renaissance music in the vocal ensemble Ars Nova, and at the age of 24 she was a co-founder of FIGURA. On the European Baroque stages she has appeared in Handel's opera Teseo and Cavalli's opera Giasone. Among standard roles she has sung Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and the title roles in Rossini's La cenerentola and Bizet's Carmen, on among other stages the Danish Royal Theatre. She also sings in oratorios by Bach, Handel and Mozart and appears with Marlene Dietrich's repertoire in the vocal group Kopenhagen Kabarett. On CDs from Dacapo you can hear Helene Gjerris in Per Nørgård's opera Nuit des hommes and the cantata The Will-o'-the Wisps Have Gone to Town, in Rued Langgaard's Late Romantic mystery play Antichrist and in contemporary music by Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen. She has received many awards including the Aksel Schiøtz Prize, the honorary prize of the Danish Composers' Society and the Reumert Prize. Helene Gjerris is recently appointed professor at The Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Southern Denmark.

Jesper Egelund (bassist, ensemble director)

In collaboration with Helene Gjerris - founder of FIGURA Ensemble in 1993.
Educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and VSMU (Music Academy) in Bratislava. 1988-89 he was selected for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (chief conductor Claudio Abbado). Have besides 5 years in the Danish Radio Sinfonietta since his graduation in 1993, primarily been a freelancer and starred in a series of performances including The last Virtuoso, Den Anden Opera 1995, Black Rider, Betty Nansen 1998, Hamlet, Det Lille Turnéteater 1998, The story of the little uncle, Theater La Balance 2000, On this Planet, Kaleidoscope / Den Anden Opera 2002, Miki Alone, Simsalabad, Den Anden Opera 2005
Jesper has an extensive work as a composer among others on: The Road to my Father and King UBU, Corona La Balance 2007. He has been touring in the U.S., Russia, Korea, Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, Canada, Greenland and Japan. He is also a member of the Quartet in 4 Elements.


Anna Klett (clarinetist)

Faroese clarinetist, studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen at Jørgen Misser and Bent Neuchs debut in 1994 and that same year Premier Prix from Conservatoire the Musique de Geneve at Thomas Friedli.
She has worked with many orchestras and ensembles in Denmark but with great love, devoted most of her time to contemporary music. Anna Klett is a member of FIGURA and Athelas Sinfonietta and is cofounder of the Faroese chamber ensemble Aldubáran.
Anna Klett has received the Danish Composer's Society of Musicians's Prize 2002 and the Danish Music Critics Award 2003.

Frans Hansen (percussionist)

Educated at the Royal Academy of Music debut in 1983.
Has since then been active at the stage of contemporary music in Denmark, as a member of such ensembles as The Elsinore Players, Danish Piano Theatre, Touché, Tuku-tukahh ..., Aarhus Sinfonietta and FIGURA.
Frans Hansen has participated in numerous performances of works in the genre of "instrumental theater" - especially the works of Mauricio Kagel. Frans Hansen has previously taught at both the Royal Academy of Music and Funen and Northern Jutland Academy of Music as a percussion teacher.


Peter Bruun (composer)

Studied composition and theory privately with Niels Marthinsen 1989-1991, and philosophy at the University of Aarhus 1989-1991. He graduated in composition and music theory at the Royal Academy of Music with Karl Aage Rasmussen, Per Nørgård, Hans Abrahamsen and Bent Lorentzen as teachers. Peter Bruun has taught music theory at the conservatories in Esbjerg, Aarhus and Copenhagen 2001-2003 and was artistic director of the Esbjerg Ensemble. The diversity and the desire to explore different ways of expression is striking in Peter Bruuns music and yet you sense an overarching goal: faith in the possibility of finding new ways in dealing with melody, harmony and tonality.
He received the 1996 National Arts Council's three year work grant. Wrote in 2002 the successful opera Miki Alone to FIGURA and received for that the 2008 Nordic Council Music Prize. For FIGURA he has also written music for Pixi-opera Sleeping Policemen (05) together with Jens Hørsving and music for the Cabaret Concert Heaven-Haven (07) as well as the children play Am I not Don Quixote? (09) and the children opera Narcissus & Echo (10).

Ursula Andkjær Olsen (writer)

Member of Figura since 2008.
Debuted in 2000 with the collection Lulu's songs and speeches (Lindhardt and Ringhof) and has since published Atlas of holes in the world (poems, Gyldendal 2003, awarded by the National Arts Foundation), The marriage between the road and resort (poems, Gyldendal 2005), Beauty hangs on trees (poems, Gyldendal 2006), The Sea is a Scene (poems, Gyldendal 2008) which was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize and awarded by the National Art Foundation and most recently Gardening and Hell (poems, Gyldendal 2010).
Has written text for the FIGURA chamber opera Miki Alone (2002), which received the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize 2008, The chamber opera The Art of choosing (Limfjordsteatret 2005) and the FIGURA Poetry Concert Heaven-Haven (2007).
Received in April 2004 the National Arts Foundation three-year working scholarship and has among others, received several grants from The Art Foundation and Literature Council, The Dan Turell Prize in 2006, Edvard Pedersen Library Foundation Author Award in 2007 and the Danish Academy's Otto Gelsted Prize 2010.

Filippa Berglund (architect / stage design)

Trained as an architect at the Royal Danish School of Architecture, Copenhagen 2003. She has worked as an independent since 2006, with architecture and set design projects and taught at the School of Architecture since 2005. Member of the Academy Council Artist Society since 2010. For FIGURA Filippa Berglund has created scenography for Miki Alone - seven songs for a mad woman, Den Anden Opera (02), 1:1 - A chat-opera, PLEX Music Theatre / FIGURA (07) and Am I not Don Quioxte? (09). Her most recent performing arts projects also include: Art: Set design and costumes. Director: Solveig Weinkouff, Svalegangen, Aarhus / Denmark Tour (10), Paradise - A Pinoy Café. Video installation in collaboration with Ditte Maria Bjerg at Café Charlottenborg Kunsthal and Stændertorvet in Roskilde in My World Images (10) and in Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin (11), Bankeråt: Scenography. Directed by Petrea Søe Nationaltheatret, Oslo (11), Hem ljuva hem. Room installation and documentation of the process of a scenografis genesis, Forsøgsstationen, Copenhagen (11)