Urban CV
Ole Morten Vågan [ double bass ]
Ole Morten Vågan, from Brønnøysund, is a graduate of jazz studies at the Music
Conservatory in Trondheim, and has made his mark on the Norwegian jazz scene as
both a bassist, composer and arranger. In 2000 he received the NOPA (Norwegian
association for composers and lyricists) composer's award, and in 2001, the "Young
Nordic Jazzcomets" at Copenhagen Jazz Festival. This was with the band MOTIF,
which he now has led for a decade.
Active in several genres, he has, in addition to jazz music nurtured a strong interest in
Eastern European Gypsy music and Klezmer music, and has performed with some of
the greatest musicians in the genre, like Ivo Papasov and Petar Ralchev.
Among other achievements, are concerts with foreign musicians like Joshua Redman
and John Scofield. He is also performing regularly with great northern artists as Audun
Kleive, Tore Brunborg, Jonas Kullhammar, Kresten Osgood, Christian Wallumrød and
Bugge Wesseltoft, and ensembles such as Maria Kannegaard Trio, Håvard Wiik Trio
and Generator X. He also received DnBNor's great Musician-award at the Kongsberg
Jazz Festival in 2009.
Stig Rennestraum [ drums ]
Stig was born 1973 in Fjaler in Sogn og Fjordane and lives in Oslo. He is a graduate of
jazz studies at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim (1999 to 2003). He has been
noticed for his creative and distinctive drum play, and for his compositions.
Stig Rennestraum is currently active in his own trio Orange along with Vigleik Storaas
and Sondre Meisfjord, in Dinosau with Lena Nymark and Bjorn Thevik, in the duo Misty
Range along with guitarist and vocalist Arve Paulsen, and in Urban Tunélls
Klezmerband. He has also played with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, together with Jon
Balke, Helge Sunde, Ståle Storløkken, Kjetil Moster, Frode Gjerstad, James Young,
Roy Okutani, Mold, Brazz Bross and many others.
Morten Michelsen [ clarinet ]
Morten Michelsen was born in Tromsø, but works as a musician in Oslo. He studied at
the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Conservatoire National de Versailles in
France, with the clarinet as main instrument.
Morten works a lot with theater and has been associated with the National Theatre,
Riksteatret, Trøndelag Theatre and Hålogaland Theatre, among others. He has been
musical director for Chicago, Cabaret, Sound of Music, Fiddler on the roof and others.
In addition to the clarinet, he also plays flutes and saxophones.
He has worked as music producer for film and TV with the movie "ORPS" for NRK, and
has participated in recordings for Urban Tunélls Klezmerband, Frey Ågre, Randi
tytingvåg ensemble, and many others.
Michelsen has also played for Tromsø Bigband, Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, The
Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces and The Norwegian Air Force Band,
Ensemble North and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra
Morten has toured in Sweden, USA, Russia, Holland, Denmark, Poland, Germany,
Austria and the Czech Republic.
Morten helped started Urban Tunélls Klezmerband together with pianist Tor-Petter
Aanes in 2000
Jovan Pavlovic [ accordion ]
Jovan Pavlovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, but has lived in Trondheim since 1995.
He has ten years of music education from Serbia (3 times Yugoslav Champion in
classical accordion), and four years of studies from the Music Conservatory in
Trondheim. Jovan has appeared on recordings with Urban Tunélls Klezmerband,
Bengalo, Dadafon, Frode Fjellheim, Ulla Pirtijarvi and No Border Orchestra.
Jovan Pavlovic has worked as musical director, composer and arranger on several
performances at Trøndelag Theater.
He has toured and collaborated with many great musicians, both from Norway and the
Balkan region. Among these are Petar Ralchev, Urban Tunélls Klezmerband, Ivo
Papasov, Stoyan Yankulov, Bata Kanda, Lelo Nika, Ida Kelarova and Farmers Market.
Jovan Pavlovic also works as a Lecturer at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim and
was associated with the project Tutti 2008 – a project for revitalization of Romani music
traditions combined with peace creating activities. He is currently working as a musical
director for music seminars in Serbia, which aims to unite musicians with minority
background and ethnic Serbs through a series of concerts throughout Serbia.
Jovan Pavlovic has also arranged and composed music for the Trondheim Soloists and
the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in the United States, Canada,
Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, Bosnia and Serbia.
Tor-Petter Aanes [ vocal, piano ]
Tor-Petter Aanes, singer, pianist and conductor was born in 1974, Korgen in Nordland.
He Studied at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim (1995-1999), principal song, and at
the Music Conservatory in Tromsø (2000-2002), conducting. He works daily as a church
musician in Hemnes, Helgeland. He is also active as a choral conductor and freelance
musician.
As a singer, he has been soloist in several church music productions, mainly in Norway,
but he has also had performances in the U.S., Britain, Denmark and Sweden. He has
performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Norrbotten Opera Orchestra,
Trondheim Soloists, Norwegian Baroque Orchestra and several Norwegian symphony
orchestras. He has appeared on recordings with Urban Tunélls Klezmerband, Nidaros
Cathedral Boys Choir, Helgeland Chamber Choir and Grabowski. Tor-Petter is also
holding courses and lectures for choir, cultural institutions and other businesses. He is
artistic director and conductor of the choir-Baasmo, a chamber choir from Nordland
wich, in 2011, introduces two different CDs with new written music for respectively choir
and chamber orchestra, and accapella choir. Tor-Petter also helped starting Urban
Tunélls Klezmerband in 2000.