Michala Petri
Final Adjudicator
Michala Petri was born in 1958, the daughter of pianist Hanne Petri and violinist Kanny Sambleben. She made her performance debut at age 5 and started her formal education at age 11 in Hannover, Germany with Professor Ferdinand Conrad.
Since then she has performed at major festivals and in concert halls around the world, as soloist with leading chamber and symphony orchestras. Amongst the musicians she has worked with are Gidon Kremer, Joshua Bell, James Galway, Keith Jarrett, Christopher Hogwood and Claudio Abbado. In 1992 Michala Petri formed a duo with Danish guitarist and lute player Lars Hannibal, with whom she also performs worldwide. In 2013 she formed a duo with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.
Michala Petri`s repertoire spans from early baroque to contemporary music, and her vivid interest in expanding the expressive possibilities of her instrument has made her an inspiration for many of today's composers.
For 30 years she was under contract with the international recording companies Philips/Polygram and RCA/BMG, and in 2006 she and Lars Hannibal formed their own company, OUR Recordings, in order to have full artistic freedom. Michala's many recordings have received international nominations and awards, amongst others 4 Grammy nominations and 3 ECHO KLASSIK AWARDS. A series of 7 recordings with contemporary recorder concertos from various countries, starting with the Grammy nominated Chinese Recorder Concertos and English Recorder Concertos, continues with Danish Recorder Concertos in 2014, German Recorder Concertos in 2015 and American Recorder Concertos in 2016.
Michala Petri has received many awards, including the prestigious L茅onie Sonning Music Prize in 2000, and was awarded the 1.rank of Knight of Dannebrog in 2011 by the Danish Queen Margrethe II. In September 2012 Michala Petri was appointed Honorary Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
