JOHANNES MOLLER
Saturday, April 21, 2012, 8 pm
San Francisco Debut
Green Room $34
tickets-->
If I can make one person happy with my music that is enough for me. If that person can share that happiness, even just with a smile to someone else, we are making the world a better place way beyond our imagination" (Johannes Möller)
 The Swedish guitarist and composer Johannes Möller has captivated audiences throughout the world with charismatic and soulful performances. He played his first public concerts when he was 13 years old. Since then he has found time for more than 500 appearances in Europe, Asia, South and North America. In 2010 he was awarded first prize in the GFA Concert Artist Competition, which is often considered the most prestigious guitar competition in the world. As part of this prize, he will perform over 50 concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, and China, including a Carnegie Hall debut (Weill Recital Hall). He will also record a CD on the Naxos label.
As a performer, Johannes’s artistry has reached well beyond the usual guitar circles. This fact was confirmed in March 2008 when he won the Dutch Vriendenkrans Concours where he was competing against performers in all of the instrumental categories. As a part of this award his name has been engraved on a metal plate that can be seen in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He also became the first guitarist ever to win the Ljunggrenska Competition (Sweden) in 2007, and the conclusion issued by the jury was: “With the help of a breathtaking technique and all the colors of the rainbow he opens a door to a world of subtle expressions which with great power and intensity strikes us.” In 2005, he became the first guitarist to win The Bromsgrove Festival International Young Musicians Platform (England). Critics have also noted his special qualities, writing of his playing "Guitarist Johannes Moller achieved miracles with his lucid, spacious playing" (Stephen Pettitt, London Evening Standard).
Johannes has earned a Bachelor of Music with Honours from the Royal College of Music in London where he studied guitar with Gary Ryan and Carlos Bonell. He has received a Masters degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague where he studied with Zoran Dukic. He also received a scholarship for excellent students from the Royal Conservatoire that allowed him to study privately with Pavel Steidl in Czech Republic. He completed a second masters degree at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam where he studied with Lex Eisenhardt.
Reviews
"...in the slow movement Möller showed off in the virtuoso lines and caressed the ear of the listener with an exhaustive tone quality." –Michael Bruze, Norrköpings Tidningar (Sweden), January 2008, in a review of a performance of the Aranjuez concerto
"The highlight of the evening was the young guitarist Johannes Möller... With a brilliant sense of colours and a flashing technique he easily takes the audience through the work..." –Marcus Österlund, Folkbladet (Sweden), January 2008, in a review of a performance of the Aranjuez concerto
"Two chords on the guitar and you are caught." –Eleonor Andersson, Smålandsposten (Sweden), December 2006
"Johannes Moller has talent in plenty"… "...this CD can only increase Johannes Moller's circle of admirers." –Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar (UK), June 2006, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”It is really very well played, polished and devoted, with great attention to details. Johannes leaves room for the music and it is allowed to breath. Simply, a magnificent recording.” –Stig Jacobson, Hifi & Musik (Sweden), May 2006, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”Swedish guitarist Johannes Möller delighted with his calm assurance, innate musicality and varied programme.” –Maggie Cotton, the Birmingham Post (UK), May 2006, reviewing Johannes' concert during the Bromsgrove Festival.
 ”Möller's programme, while accessible and attractive, is also thought-provoking and intelligently executed. …Möller's playing is lucid rather than flashy, his tempi in generally on the leisurely side; like any any good painter, he prefers a restricted palette in order to not obscure the underlying structure. …A debut with much to recommend it, then.” –William Yeoman, The Gramophone (UK), April 2006, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”Möller designed this concert, opening the latest series of the South Bank Centre's 'Fresh' series, to display the full range of his talent and technique. …quite breathtakingly, Möller put his instrument through its paces technically while putting himself through the mill emotionally.” –Kenneth Carter, Classical Source (UK), February 2006, reviewing Johannes' concert in the Purcell Room in London
”On this hearing he is already a mature artist with excellent technique and as recorded here produces so beautiful a tone that I had to dig deep in my guitar collection to find something comparable. He is also a stylish musician with feeling for the musical phrase. …There is a cornucopia of immaculately executed and artistically superb music-making on this disc which can be recommended, also for some rarely encountered music.” –MusicWeb-International (UK), January 2006, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”…Johannes Möller who must be considered as one of the most talented guitarists of our time. His excellent playing, musicality, sense of form and style, fluent technique and phrasing is convincing.” –Ladis Müller in Smålandsposten (Sweden), December 2005, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”Attention please! One of the most interesting guitar CDs ever released in Sweden! …Maximum mark (5/5) and recommendation for purchase!” –Dag Lundin in Eskilstuna-Kuriren (Sweden), November 2005, in a review of the CD JOHANNES MÖLLER PLAYS SPANISH MUSIC
”…an ability to please listeners outside and beyond the usual guitar orbit, and that surely suggests a future career of some significance. He gets the shape of the music right, never failing to deliver its message. …Johannes Möller is a gifted player, and will go on to great things.” –Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar (UK), August 2005, reviewing a concert at the Latin Quarter, London
”Guitarist Johannes Moller achieved miracles with his lucid, spacious playing.” –Stephen Pettitt, London Evening Standard (UK), May 2005, reviewing the performance of Michael Tippett's Sonata The Blue Guitar
”The performers… are each in total command of their instruments and combine perfectly. …a delight on the ear." –Patrick C. Waller, MusicWeb International (UK), April 2004, in a review of the CD SCHUBERT & GIULIANI
”The music is enticing and the performers are brilliant, singly and together …Johannes plays with maturity and technical ease. Readers who enjoy flute and guitar music will certainly relish this recording." –Flute Talk (USA), December 2003, in a review of the CD DUO 2XM
”...the very demanding guitar technique, with coordination of the right and left hands, was reliable, more as an obvious condition for a free musical creation. …The instrument beared sounds of quality and gold.” –Södermanlands Nyheter (Sweden), August 2002, in a review of a concert during the Nyköping Chamber Music Days
”Then Johannes Möller from Gnesta, twelve years old, entered the stage. What a surprise! Young Johannes performed one of the more well-known preludes by Villa-Lobos - a performance filled with promise!” –Länstidningen (Sweden), May 1995, in a review of a concert in the Cultural House in Järna
www.johannesmoller.com |
