Norwegian clarinetist, conductor, composer, Yamaha and Vandoren artist Erlend Eide is one of our most versatile musicians and is active as both a classical, jazz- and folk music clarinetist. The jazz bands Brexology and Erlend Eide Quartet, classical duo with Margaret Stachiewicz and world music project Yrjar Collective are permanent active constellations. He is also actively involved in shedding light on the Norwegian clarinet folk music tradition, which has been overshadowed by the fiddle and Hardanger fiddle. He is artistic director of the Brekstad Music Festival which he formed in 2002.

A native of Brekstad, Ørland he grew up surrounded by fighters in the sky, classical, jazz, pop and folk music. He played piano from the age of four, violin from the age of seven and clarinet some months at the age of nine, but focused mainly on the piano. At the age of nine he performed Haydn’s Piano concerto in C major with the local orchestra. As the family moved to Sykkylven he started to play clarinet in the local school band at the age of ten. In rural areas, there were usually no access to professional clarinet teachers, so development eventually did not proceed as quickly as it did on the piano.

The rich Norwegian band movement came to aid. From the age of thirteen he participated annually in the summer band camps and clarinet became his main focus during middle school. He moved back to Trondheim at sixteen to enter the music department of Heimdal High School. In Trondheim he was finally taught by clarinetist Knut Lauritzen, and spent his high school years becoming a better clarinetist than a pianist. He studied clarinet with Lars Kristian Brynildsen at the Grieg Academy in Bergen and a final year with Thomas Norup Jensen at the NTNU Institute of Music in Trondheim.