Since receiving his degree from The Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1984, Michael
Bojesen has established a bold reputation with a striking profile in the Danish music scene, especially through his work as a conductor.
From 1989 to 2006, Bojesen was the conductor for Camerata, one of the leading chamber choirs in Denmark, with whom he has recorded numerous CDs and won many awards.
Bojesen and the choir were awarded a Grammy for the best classical release in 1999 for their recording of Handel’s Messiah, and won first prize at the Euroradio choral competition, Let the People Sing in 2003.
Michael Bojesen was a senior lecturer at Sankt Annæ Gymnasium, The Copenhagen Choir
School, from 1984 to 2000. His competence at conducting a choir was developed at The
Royal Danish Music Conservatory from 1994 to 2003, where he was a lecturer in choral conducting.
In January 2001, Michael Bojesen was named principal conductor of the Danish National
Girls Choir/DR. Under his leadership, the choir went through major changes in a short period of time, with highest priority on renewal and quality enhancement. Under Bojesen’s leadership, the Danish National Girls Choir received numerous awards and rave reviews. At an Kathaumixw international Choral Competition in Canada, the choir was named Choir of the
World 2002, and at Lago di Garda Music Festival in the spring of 2010, the choir swept the awards in all categories. Having achieved international recognition, Bojesen resigned from his position as principal conductor for the Danish National Girls Choir/DR in 2010 and was then appointed honourary conductor.
Ever since, Bojesen has had the opportunity to further advance his enthusiasm for choral conductorship. Bojesen works with the Danish National Vocal Ensemble and the vocal ensemble Ars Nova. Additionally he works as an orchestra conductor for the Danish Radio
Big Band, the Danish National Chamber Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony
Orchestra, as well as various Danish regional orchestras. The CD titled The American
Songbook, which was recorded with the Danish Radio Big Band and trumpet player Randy
Brecker and conducted by Michael Bojesen, was nominated for four American Grammy
Awards.
As a conductor and arranger, Bojesen has worked across many genres and has had the pleasure to work with many prominent musicians and composers, including: Per Nørgaard, Ib
Nørholm, Bo Holten, Bent Sørensen, Palle Mikkelborg, Chris Minh Doky, Cæcilie Norby, Phil
Woods, Randy Brecker, Martin Brygmann, Tobias Trier, Sigurd Barrett, Karen Busck, Anne
Linnet, Thomas Dybdahl, Birthe Kjær and many others.

Michael Bojesen is a diligent composer with extensive experience in the production of choral music on his list of works. In 1998, he was chosen as the Danish choral composer of the year, and his choir music has been performed by choirs around the world. His choral work
Plant a Tree , which was commissioned by the International Choir Symposium in 2008, has achieved widespread popularity. This work was performed at the international IOC congress in the autumn of 2009 and again at the opening of the Copenhagen Climate Change
Conference the same year, and was broadcast on television around the worldwide both times.
Many of Bojesen’s songs can be found in the Danish folk high school songbook, the Swedish
Psalm Book, Psalms for the 21 st century, as well as other songbooks. Besides his many songs and compositions for choirs, he has also composed works for choir and symphony orchestras, such as the opera Det er så sandt som det er løgn , which was commissioned by the Danish National Opera and was first performed in 2009.

Alongside his noteworthy achievements as a conductor and composer, Bojesen is dedicated to providing opportunities for Danes to enjoy a rich musical life. His influence felt as an ideas man, an initiative-taker and as a contributor in various contexts, especially in relation to the role of song in our daily lives and the promotion of popular music. Bojesen is known as one of the most visionary and enterprising personalities in the country.
SPREADING THE JOY OF SINGING
Michael Bojesen’s activities in the public sphere of community sing-along are extensive. This applies in particular to his position as a host of the popular Danish Radio produced sing-along concerts, Så syng da, Danmark , where Bojesen has made singing more accessible and meaningful to a broad public, who have participated nationwide. Bojesen has acted as a guarantor for the originality of these arrangements, which have an exceptionally highly qualitative framework of composition for unpretentious participation that is irrespective of previous training.
In addition, Sangens År (The Year of Singing) 2008 is an especially outstanding example of
Bojesen’s considerable influence on bringing the joy of singing to ordinary Danes. As the initiativor for this successful cultural project, Bojesen got all of Denmark to sing together. For his effort, he received the Danish folk song prize in 2008. In appealing to all children to sing more, the project concluded with the publication of a songbook. It was distributed to all fourth grade classes across the country. With considerable support from Bojesen, it was eventually followed up with recordings, which are now available to all teachers and students in primary and secondary schools across the country.
Other songbook-related projects took place when Michael Bojesen was on the editorial committee of the 18th edition of the folk high school song book, and he was the editor and arranger of the music book that accompanied the songbook. Moreover, he is a contributor to
Syngelyst (Passion for Singing), whose aim is to get children and young people to sing more, sing together, sing by themselves and to relate to singing in general, and which is a continuation of the Year of Singing 2008.
As a catalyst for the biggest Danish European Song Contest choir in January 2012, Michael
Bojesen got more than 50 choirs and 1000 singers from northern Jutland to participate in events that spread song throughout public open spaces in Aalborg.
In a more traditional context, Bojesen has also put considerable effort into ensuring the relevance of song in Danish life. He was selected by the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs to be chairperson for the committee for new music in churches.
On 1 September 2012, Bojesen was appointed to be the new director of the Copenhagen
Opera Festival. In this forum, many new initiatives are in the works. The aim is for the opera festival to attract a large following and open yet another avenue for Danes to take pleasure in song.

Michael Bojesen’s activities have been largely dedicated to musical conditions for the younger members of the population. Besides working with the Danish National Girls Choir, he has established the Danish Radio Choir School, which includes four choirs with 200 children and young people between the ages of six and 22. The choir school offers qualified voice training and music teaching through choir singing, solo singing and music theory. With relatively limited means, this institution has been successfully established, and has become a role model for music institutions and music teachers across the country. In that respect, it benefits the future of music in Denmark nationwide.
Besides the direct influence Michael Bojesen has had through his positions as choir conductor for children and young people, as well as the acting as the driving force behind projects for this target group, he has dedicated himself in order to influencing the development of promoting singing among youth. Bojesen was a member of an advisory committee that worked to support music as a subject in primary and secondary schools, which had been reduced by the Danish Ministries of Education and Culture in 2007 and 2008.
The idea that musical activities are an essential foundation for the development of a wellrounded pers onality, where all of an individual’s potential has the opportunity to evolve, was a key point in the recommendations of the committee.
This way of thinking is also a point of reference for Bojesen in other contexts, where he has demonstrated great engagement, including his roles as a member of a think tank for music teaching in Denmark, as well as his position as a board member of Den Jyske Sangskole,
The Jutland Choirschool.

Michael Bojesen is known as a brilliant communicator of music. With his exceptional popular appeal and his capacity for inclusiveness, Bojesen has defied the odds and has been able to present rather challenging musical content to the general public. Bojesen has acted as a presenter for television programmes featuring the Danish National Girls Choir, and as a master of ceremonies at numerous arrangements, such as the opening concert at DR
Koncerthuset, which is the new concert hall in Copenhagen.
Michael Bojesen is particularly well-known as an outstanding arranger of classical music, in part through his role as the host of the Danish Broadcasting Company’s Malko competition for young conductors in 2009, when he communicated a rather ambitious and circumscribed message to the general public. His role as a judge on the television programme Maestro has also shown Bojesen to be a man of great abilities and has made him a compelling national figure.
Michael Bojesen was granted more formal recognition when he was made a Knight of the
Order of the Dannebro in 2008.
Tel.:
E-mail:
+45 29 47 82 45 mail@michaelbojesen.dk