Astrid Nyborg Berg is a young Norwegian classical musician currently based in Malmö, Sweden.
In addition to her occupation as a professional guitarist and chamber musician, she is also active in the fields of arranging and contemporary composition.
After leaving her home country of Norway to study the guitar with Prof. Göran Söllscher, she now works full time as a freelance musician based in Malmö, Sweden.
Experiments with form and structure in the classical concert has been a red thread through projects such as the ensemble (o)MEGA-4, and concert concepts like "Tegnekonserter" and "Hvilepuls".
Astrid is both active as a solomusician and in groups such as Bacchus Gitarrkvartett, Ensemble Místico, Duo Nära and Lumis Ensemble. In 2021 she established Malmö Gitarrforum, and in 2024 she led the group's most ambitious project in arranging a guitar festival in memoriam of Ida Presti's 100 year anniversary.
Her education in classical guitar performance started at Norges Musikkhøyskole, Oslo, and ended with a master's degree from Malmö Musikhögskola, Lund University, 2021. During these years she studied with guitar teachers like Erik Stenstadvold, Geir-Otto Nillson, David Hanson, Gunnar Spjuth and Göran Söllcher. After this she also completed a postgraduate course in culture project development.
As a composer she has completed a residency in the arctic city of Hammerfest, which resulted in an entire concert program inspired by the far north. Her music has been commissioned by Drammen Arts Festival, Kvinnelige Spor concert series and Duo Mardi.
All of these different project has brought Astrid Nyborg Berg to big stages all over Scandinavia such as Malmö Live, DKDM Konsertsal, Tromsø Kulturhus, Uppsala Gitarrfestival and Helsingborg Gitarrfestival.
Bergs formal education started at Foss Gymnasium where she was a student of the guitarist Per-Kristian Larsen. She also received lessons in arranging and composing, which culminated in a guided project where she collaborated to write music which was performed live in concert by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
From there, she enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music where Erik Stenstadvold and Geir-Otto Nilsson guided her guitar education. During these years, she also studied baroque counterpoint and modernistic composition techniques.
The last part of her Bachelor’s degree was achieved in Malmö Academy of Music with Göran Söllscher and Gunnar Spjuth in 2019. This became the first experience with arrangement. With the guidance of Prof. Göran Söllscher, who is well recognized for his arrangements of J. S. Bach, Berg arranged the seven movements of Bach’s first cello suite for guitar.
Berg kept studying with Söllscher and David Hansson for her master’s degree. Her exam paper “Fortissimo like a world of sound - Arranging piano music by Grieg for classical guitar” described the process of arranging and performing Edvard Grieg’s “Last Spring” and “Homesickness”. This was the beginning of a long project lasting to this day.
After her Master’s Degree, Berg spent a year studying culture project development. Her main projects were arranging more music by E. Grieg and M. Ravel.
Throughout this time, she has attended masterclasses with Marcin Dylla, Stein-Erik Olsson, Zoran Dukic, Alexander Ramirez, Richardo Gallén, Lorenzo Micheli and others.
Master Exam Consert, Rosenbergssalen, Malmö, June 12th 2021
J. Rodrigo: Concerto de Aranjuez, Adagio
Piano: Olle Sjöberg.
