Instructors
Instructors 2027
Meet this year’s instructors! The page will be updated continuously.
BrassUnit – Polstjärnepriset’s Artists In Residence
Having won both the Swedish ensemble competition ‘Ung och Lovande’ and the ‘Nordic Wind Festival Competition’, the brass quintet has now been named Artists in Residence for Polstjärnepriset. The quintet’s members take part in teaching, ensembles and orchestras, serving as outstanding role models for all participants.
Flute
Gitte Marcusson (Royal College of Music, London)
Randi Krogvold Lundqvist (Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt)
Oboe
Coming soon
Clarinet
Magnus Holmander (freelance, soloist)
Bassoon
Coming soon
Horn
Trumpet
Ture Herrgårdh (Göteborgs Symfoniker)
Trombone
Jens Kristian Søgaard (Göteborgs Symfoniker)
Jonas Bylund (Norges musikkhøgskole)
Markus Paulsons Johansson (BrassUnit, Polstjärneprisets Artist In Residence)
Tuba
Jesper Kramer-Johansen (Göteborgs Symfoniker)
Johan Lundborg (BrassUnit, Polstjärneprisets Artist In Residence)
Percussion
Roger Carlsson (Göteborgs Symfoniker)
Daniel Berg (Kungliga Musikhögskolan, Stockholm)
Violin
Alf Richard Kraggerud (Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt)
Alissa Margulis (soloist)
Anna Kolby Sonstad (Musikhögskolan Ingesund, Arvika)
Ava Bahari (violinsolist)
Judith Ingolfsson (Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, USA)
Per Enoksson (Göteborgs Symfoniker)
Viola
Albin Uusijärvi (Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester)
Cello
Lars-Inge Bjärlestam (Musikhögskolan Ingesund)
Double bass
Coming soon
Piano
Francisca Skoogh (solist)
Jonas Olsson (Nationellt centrum för musiktalanger)
Lorenzo Soulès (Folkwang Musikhögskola, Essen)
Conductor
Gitte Marcusson
Gitte taught at Chetham’s School of Music for 16 years and is since 2016 Professor at the Royal College of Music in London. She is founder and director of Nordic Flute International Summer School as well as being a member of the faculty at Wildacres Flute Retreat, North Carolina USA. Many of her students are holding principal and second positions in orchestras worldwide such as London Symphony, Royal Scottish, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sidney Symphony, Oslo, Norrköping and BBC Philharmonic. Besides frequently giving Masterclasses throughout Europe, Gitte is a tutor at Tuscany Flutes and Voksenåsen Summer Academy, Oslo.
Randi Krogvold Lundqvist
Randi Krogvold Lundqvist has a deep and versatile background as a musician and teacher, with a special focus on talent development. She is currently head of the wind department at Barratt Due Musikkinstitutt in Oslo and has for many years held the same position at Valdres sommersymfoni. Randi studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, has worked in all the major Norwegian orchestras and performed at leading festivals in Norway and abroad.
Magnus Holmander
Magnus Holmander is one of Sweden’s most distinctive clarinettists, known for his virtuosity, strong stage presence and boundary-pushing artistry. Combining his career as a musician and magician, he has created a unique niche within the classical music world – where music, theatre and magic come together. In 2024, he was the soloist in the world premiere of Jacob Mühlrad’s clarinet concerto SEMA at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, performing with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martin Fröst. In December 2025, Magnus also performed a specially adapted short version of the concerto at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm City Hall. Magnus holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied with Hermann Stefánsson and Emil Jonason.
Frøydis Ree Wekre
Frøydis Ree Wekre has been a solo horn player with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for decades. From 1991 to 2011 she was professor of French horn and chamber music at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Many of her students play in leading orchestras. She is in constant demand for masterclasses all over the world, is an honorary member of the International Horn Society and has had a large number of compositions dedicated to her by a variety of composers.
Ture Herrgårdh
After completing his bachelor’s degree at the Malmö Academy of Music under Håkan Hardenberger and Gustav Melander, and his master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover under Jeroen Berwaerts, he now plays with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. As a teenager, he took part in the Polstjärnepriset courses and won Polstjärnepriset in 2019.
Jens Kristian Søgaard
Jens Kristian Søgaard was born in Denmark and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and at Northwestern University in Chicago. Between 1994 and 2011, Jens Kristian played the tenor trombone with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and since 2011 he has been the orchestra’s bass trombonist. Alongside his work with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, he has held a post as senior lecturer at Högskolan för Scen och Musik at the University of Gothenburg and is active as a chamber musician in various smaller ensembles, such as the Gageego Ensemble för Ny Musik and Swedish Brass, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s Brass Ensemble.
Jonas Bylund
After completing his studies at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm, in 1987, Jonas Bylund was principal trombone of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1988 he won 1st prize at the international soloist competition CIEM and in 1989 the ARD-Wettbewerb in Munich. Jonas was later principal trombone of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Bamberger Symphoniker. Jonas has appeared as a soloist with a number of Europe’s leading orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestre de Suisse Romande and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is active as a conductor and has worked with the brass ensembles of the HR Frankfurt, DSO Berlin, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Gävle Symphony Orchestra and Rice University Houston, USA. Since 1995 he has been the Trombone Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Theater und Medien in Hannover and from 2016 also the Trombone Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In 2022 Jonas received the International Trombone Association Neill Humfeld Award for Excellence in Trombone Teaching.
Jesper Kramer-Johansen
Jesper Kramer-Johansen is a tuba player from Oslo, Norway. Since 2024, he has held the position of principal tuba in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Jesper is a founding member of Det Nye Norske Storband (The New Norwegian Big Band), where he plays both tuba and cimbasso. Jesper studied at Norges musikkhøgskole, with teachers Torbjörn Kvist and Frode Amundsen, as well as Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, with professor Anne Jelle Visser. Seasons 21/22 and 22/23 he was stipendiat (academist) with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. After his studies, he worked for two years in the Royal Norwegian Air Force Band in Trondheim, Norway, before moving to Gothenburg in 2024. As a freelancer, he has performed with most professional orchestras and wind bands in Norway, as well as some of the major orchestras in Sweden, Denmark and Finland. He is currently teaching at Högskolan för Scen och Musik in Gothenburg.
Roger Carlsson
Roger Carlsson held the post of principal percussionist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from 1980 to 2024. From 1986 to 1988, he was principal timpanist with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He teaches at the Academy of Music, University of Gothenburg, and is involved in various projects in Europe and Venezuela relating to the professional coaching of young musicians. As a soloist, Roger Carlsson has performed with various Nordic symphony orchestras, appeared on radio and television on numerous occasions, and taken part in a number of recordings. He has toured Scandinavia, Europe, the USA, South America, and more as part of various chamber music ensembles. A number of composers have written works for him. Roger Carlsson obtained his percussion degree from the Academy of Music, University of Gothenburg, and has also studied at the Royal Academy and the National Centre for Orchestral Studies in London. He spent a season in New York, studying mainly with Elden C Bailey at the Juilliard School of Music, but also took part in masterclasses with leading percussionists in the USA.
Daniel Berg
Daniel Berg is a marimba soloist, chamber musician and composer, and combines a busy concert schedule with teaching. He teaches solo percussion and chamber music and is a professor at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Chamber music is very close to Daniel’s heart, and his passion for new chamber music for percussion has resulted in over 350 performances. As a soloist, he frequently appears at international percussion festivals and has recorded a large number of albums featuring the marimba. Daniel works closely with the French marimba manufacturer Bergerault, which sponsors him with the latest marimbas, and the Spanish company Elite Mallets, which manufactures marimba mallets. For them, he has designed two ranges of marimba mallets, the Daniel Berg Signature, which are sold worldwide.
Alf Richard Kraggerud
Alf Richard Kraggerud is regarded as one of the most respected violin teachers and talent developers in the Nordic region and is also a sought-after lecturer and masterclass instructor both in Norway and abroad. After completing his studies in pedagogy and violin at the Barratt Due Institute of Music (1988–1992), he continued conducting studies with G. Hurst at the Royal Academy of Music and with L. Leonard at Morley College in London. In 2007, he became the first principal of the Razumovsky Academy in London, but returned to the Barratt Due Institute of Music in 2009. As a lecturer and masterclass leader, he has taught at the renowned summer course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA, and at Astona International in Switzerland, in addition to several Nordic conservatories and academies. In 2017, Kraggerud received the Lindeman Prize for his significant contributions to Norwegian music education and training. In 1994, Kraggerud founded the Valdres Summer Symphony, the largest meeting place for classical music talents and a festival that hosts many international performers.
Alissa Margulis
Appreciated for her expressive and very emotional performances, Alissa Margulis regularly plays in important concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmony, the Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. She won numerous prizes at international violin competitions and was awarded with the “Pro Europa” prize of the European Arts Foundation which was presented to her by Daniel Barenboim in Berlin.
She made her first public appearance at the age of seven with the Budapest Soloists and has performed since then with numerous orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Ile de France, amongst many others. Besides her solo career Alissa Margulis is an enthusiastic chamber music player and collaborates with artists such as Alexander Buzlov, Martha Argerich and Yuri Bashmet. Her discography includes more than a dozen CDs and last season she played concerts in many countries such as Germany, Lebanon, South Africa, Aruba, the Netherlands and the USA.
Anna Kolby Sonstad
Since autumn 2024, Anna Kolby Sonstad has been teaching violin and chamber music and leading the chamber orchestra at the Ingesund School of Music. In the spring of 2024, she completed her studies with a double artist’s diploma from Ingesund and the Conservatoire in Reggio Emilia, having previously completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Oslo Academy of Music and the Copenhagen Conservatoire. During her studies, she took part in exchange programmes in both Los Angeles and Sydney, which greatly contributed to her developing a curious and open-minded approach to music. As well as teaching, she is in the early stages of an exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician. She is currently working as a stand-in concertmaster and section leader in orchestras such as the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Wermland Opera. Anna is the artistic director of Kammermusikk på Hell, a brand-new chamber music festival in her home region of Trøndelag. As well as the classical genre, Anna is also interested in and involved in projects within jazz, pop and Nordic folk music.
Ava Bahari
Ava Bahari is a talented Swedish violinist with a refreshing appetite for unique repertoire. She has received numerous awards, including top prizes at the Paganini Competition in Genoa (2021), the Concours International Tibor Varga in Sion (2021) and the Aurora Music Competition in Stockholm (2019). During the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons, Bahari is Artist-in-Residence with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. In the 2024/25 season, Bahari has collaborated for the first time with Helsingfors Stadsorkestern, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. In previous seasons, she has performed with, amongst others, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Gävle and Odense Symphony Orchestras, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Judith Ingolfsson
Violinist Judith Ingolfsson is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, uncompromising musical maturity, and charismatic performance style. Based in Berlin and Baltimore and enjoying a global career, she performs regularly as soloist, chamber musician and in recital. Judith Ingolfsson studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jascha Brodsky, David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein. A Gold Medal winner at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998, Judith Ingolfsson was honored by National Public Radio as Debut Artist of the Year 1999. She is currently Professor of Violin at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, co-artistic director and founder of the Festival “Aigues-Vives en Musiques” in France and the International Bach Academy Eisenach in Germany.
Per Enoksson
Per Enoksson’s career includes solo performances with all the leading Scandinavian orchestras, including the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony, Swedish Radio, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Malmö S.O., Helsinki and Danish Radio Orchestras. Per Enoksson was 1st concertmaster of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra 1987-2022. Teaching posts have included positions at the College of Music, Oslo and at the Academy of Music, Copenhagen. Per Enoksson is presently Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm.
Lars-Inge Bjärlestam
Lars-Inge Bjärlestam is a Swedish cellist and a much sought-after educator. Since 1984 he works at the Ingesund School of Music at Karlstad University, Sweden. And in 2002 he was promoted to Associate Professor. In addition to Ingesund, Lars-Inge has worked as a cello teacher at the Gothenburg School of Music / University for seven years and has given many master-classes around Europe and Asia. For a great part of his career he was regularly hired as a first-desk cellist for the most prestigious orchestras in Sweden and Norway, including the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Lars-Inge has a strong passion for teaching young musicians. For several years he has been taking part in the teaching project YOMA (Young Musicians Academy) with special gifted students from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Many of his students now have important positions as cello pedagogs and as orchestra players in Scandinavia.
Martti Rousi
Martti Rousi studied under Arto Noras at the Sibelius Academy and under Janos Starker at the Indiana University. In 1986 Rousi won the Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and has since then performed as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors all over the world. In 1995 he was appointed professor of cello at the Sibelius Academy, where his cello class is attracting talents from around the world. He is invited to do masterclasses in leading academies on all continents and frequently serves as a jury member for major competitions.
Francisca Skoogh
Francisca Skoogh is a frequent guest at both national and international music festivals and as a soloist she appears regularly with several of the Swedish orchestras and she has performed with conductors such as Heinz Wallberg, Ruth Reinhardt, Susanna Mälkki, Gianandrea Noseda and Michail Jurowski. She had a close collaboration with conductor Leif Segerstam with concertos by Brahms, Beethoven and Rachmaninov. Francisca has collaborated together with several of Sweden’s foremost musicians and has premiered various works by contemporary composers. Francisca’s recordings have received rave reviews and can be found on Spotify and Youtube.
Jonas Olsson
Jonas Olsson has accompanied the Polstjärnepriset competitors since 2010 and works as a repetiteur at Norrlandsoperan in Umeå. He belongs to a new generation of versatile pianists and is much appreciated for his work as a soloist, chamber musician and accompanist. Jonas, who has studied with Hans Pålsson and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, is one of Scandinavia’s recognized experts on contemporary music and has collaborated with a long list of the world’s leading composers.
Lorenzo Soulès
The French pianist Lorenzo Soulès’ international career began in 2012, when he, aged 20, won 1st prize in the prestigious Concours International de Genève. Since then he has been a regular guest at venues like the Royal Festival Hall in London, Tonhalle Zürich, National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Festival Messiaen au Pays de la Meije, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Klavierfestival Ruhr, where he has been involved in the festival’s Education Project since 2011. Born in Lyon, Lorenzo studied with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich in Cologne, and between 2006 and 2009 also took lessons with Alicia de Larrocha, working on the complete Iberia cycle by Albeniz.
Andreas van Tol
Winner of the 2021 Neeme Järvi Prize, Swedish conductor Andreas van Tol held the position of assistant conductor with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in Switzerland during 2023. As a symphonic conductor Andreas is working extensively across Europe and has over the past few years debuted with orchestras such as the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Residentie Orkest and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Andreas completed his master studies in the Netherlands at the Dutch National Master of Orchestral Conducting and his bachelor in conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music. During his time in Norway, he also won the prestige filled Opptakt, Norway’s top initiative for young conductors. Andreas has participated in a large range of masterclasses for such esteemed teachers as Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, and Neeme and Paavo Järvi.
