Erling Kullberg
Erling Kullberg was born in Århus in 1945. He gained his M.A. in the science of music at Århus University in 1972; later, in 1974, he gained a Diploma in the history and theory of music at the Jutland Academy of Music. At the moment he lectures in the science of music at Århus University, where his most important field of research is contemporary Danish classical music, especially the interplay between music and culture since 1960. He has published many articles about the works of particular composers and a number of wider surveys, especially about the music scene in Denmark in the 1960s, including: De Stormfulde År i Dansk Musik (The Stormy Years in Danish Music), in: Otte Ekkoer af Musikforskning i Århus, Århus University, 1988; Det Andet Oprør, om reaktionen mod modernismen (The Second Revolt, Concerning the Reaction to Modernism), in: Cæcilia 1, Århus University, 1990; and, Gøgl, Charlataneri og Ulyd - Musikkrigen i Danmark foråret 1966 (Mountebanks, Charlatans and Wierd Sounds - The Musical War in Denmark in the Spring of 1966), in: DMT 1997/98.
Among the articles he has written about Per Nørgård in particular may be mentioned: Den Hierarkiske Musik. En introduktion til Per Nørgårds Musik (Hierarchical Music. An Introduction to Per Nørgård's Music), in: Ivan Hansen (ed.): Per Nørgård Artikler 1962-82, Copenhagen, 1982, as well as an article about the Third Symphony in the same publication; Per Nørgård og den delte opmærksomhed (Per Nørgård and the Divided Attention), in: Festskrift til Søren Sørensen, Århus University 1990; Mellem dur og mol: Interferens (Between Major and Minor: Interference), in: DMT 1991/92; and, Beyond Infinity - on the Infinity Series - The DNA of Hierarchical Music, in: Anders Beyer (ed.): The Music of Per Nørgård, Copenhagen, 1996.
Erling Kullberg has also made an important career for himself as a choir director, and is today one of the most widely-used instructors at choral festivals and courses for choirs in Denmark and the Scandinavian countries. In this capacity he has been involved in the first performances of a number of Per Nørgård's major choral works, including Frostsalme (Frost Hymn), Vinterkantate (Winter Cantata), Krystalspejlinger (Crystal Reflections) and Wie ein Kind (Like a Child).
Finally, he is a composer, mostly of choral works within the various genre of rhythmical music, and his oeuvre comprises some one hundred published numbers. Among the most important of these may be mentioned the rock oratorio, Eversmiling Liberty (with Jens Johansen), and the choral works, Babel, I Vadehavet (In the Wadden Sea) and Into fire.
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