For 50 years, Michala Petri has been one of the most universally recognized and beloved recorder players in the world. She has performed almost 5.000 concerts and has discography of more than 70 critically-acclaimed and award winning recordings. Michala Petri was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 7, 1958 to musical parents. A child prodigy, she first picked up a recorder at the age of three and by the time she was ten, she made her concerto debut in Tivoli Concert Hall and began her formal studies at the at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, with Professor Ferdinand Conrad. By the time she was seventeen, she was already making recordings with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.

Her repertoire spans the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras and extends into contemporary and improvised music and multi-media. This versatility, together with a flawless technique, an insatiable curiosity, and the ability to make an emotional connection with her audiences has contributed to her special appeal as an artist. Her list of collaborators reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of late 20th century classical music, including such legendary artists as Sir Neville Marriner, Claudio Abbado, Sir James Galway, Gidon Kremer, Heinz Holliger, Henryk Szeryng, Pinchas Zukerman, Maurice Andre, Joshua Bell, Mahan Esfahani, Hille Perl and Keith Jarrett.

From her youth, Petri was fascinated with the musical potential of her chosen instrument, however, at the time of her studies the recorder was considered mainly an instrument for early music. But gradually, contemporary composers began taking interest and through Petri’s prompting – and virtuosity – started composing works for her. The first work dedicated to her was when she was just 6 years old, was “To Play for a Child” by the multi-faceted Danish Fluxus artist Henning Christiansen. Petri has constantly sought new ways to expand her musical horizons and explore creative musical dialogues with other genres and cultures, often performing with musicians outside the baroque and classical music scene such as her longstanding relationship with many of the finest members of the Scandinavian jazz and improvised music scene. Her innovative collaboration with famed composer/trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg, “Going to Pieces – without falling Apart” for recorder, harp (Helen Davies) and strings was a major statement as a Crossover/World Music/Indie album.

More than 150 pieces have been composed especially for Petri including major works by Sir Malcolm Arnold, Gordon Jacob, Daniel Kidane, Per Nørgaard, Ib Nørholm, Vagn Holmboe, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Axel Borup-Jørgensen, Olav Anton Thommessen, Sunleif Rasmussen, Bent Sørensen, Steven Stucky, Michael Berkerley, Joan Albert Amargos, Chen Yi, Bright Cheng, Thomas Koppel, Fabrice Bollon, Markus Zahnhausen, Anders Koppel, Roberto Sierra, Sean Hickey, Anthony Newman and Daniel Børtz. For more than a decade, Petri and her label have been on a mission to commission and record a new repertoire of Recorder Concertos for the 21st century. Beginning with 2010 release of the Grammy-nominated Chinese Recorder Concertos, featuring the works of Chen Yi, Bright Sheng, Tang Jianping and Ma Shui-Long, Petri has continued her musical globetrotting with English Recorder Concertos (2012), Danish/Faroese Recorder Concertos (2015), German/French Recorder Concertos (2016) and American Recorder Concertos (2019). Future titles will include Pacific Recorder Concertos, South American Recorder Concertos and Middle East Recorder Concertos.

Petri’s numerous honors and awards include nominated for Nordic Council Music Prize 1996 and 2015; Wilhelm H. Music Prize 1998; Léonie Sonnings Music Prize 2000; European Soloist Prize: Pro Europa 2005; Knight of the Dannebrog, 1. Rank in 2011; and Danish Radio Artist of the year 2019.

Awards for her recorded work: 4 ECHO Klassik Awards (Deutsche Schallplattenpreis) 1997, 2002, 2012, 2015, Danish Music Award P2-Prize 2006 and Nominated for Danish Music Award P2 – Prize 2012 and 2015. Nominations for US-Grammy: 2008, 2011, 2012. ICMA 2016 Award (International Classic Music Award) 2 FMA Awards 2016 (Faroese Music Award).

Since September 2012, Michala Petri has served as Honorary Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and since January 2015 as Vice President of the Society of Recorder Players (UK). For many years Michala Petri was Vice-president of the Danish Cancer Society and an Ambassador for UNICEF, Denmark.

November 2019