Thomas Koppel

NEW ALBUM OUT MAY 01-2006 "Improvisations For Piano" - straight in as number 1 on the danish official Top100 Album Chart !!!!!!!!! Congratulations to Thomas, "Improvisations For Piano" have now went Gold........................................................ ............................................................ ...............Thomas Koppel is Danish, born in Sweden in 1944 as a refugee from Nazi persecution. He died on february 25th of 2006 of a sudden heartattack in a too early age of 61. He died in his home in Puerto Rico where he lived with his wife of 39 years and love of his life; the singer Annisette. His wife with whom he also had the legendary band The Savage Rose. Thomas was on top of his creativity, his art and his love of life. Besides losing an amazing composer and musician we have also lost a great human rights activist, who fought for human justice and freedom. A man who always spoke for the opressed people around the world, against wars and injustice and cared so much about this beatiful planet earth we live on. We grieve over this great loss. But his music and love lives on through people around this planet...................................................... ............................................................ ..............Just before his death he was about to release his solo album 'Improvisations for piano'. Now released May 1st 2006. A heart touching, soulful, vibrant travel through life and music with this big personality, who has traveled the world, seen so many places, fought for the poor and less fortunate, created and given so much love to so many people around the world. All of this can surely be felt in his music. And, besides his musical touch he also managed to create a new grassroot movement for peace and love for our earth called 'Message from the Grassroots' (Budskab Fra Grasrodderne) www.budskabfragrasrodderne.dk............................... ............................................................ ..................................There is a huge interest for his new solo album (Improvisations for Piano) not only because people love him and his music, but also because of the curiosity of being invited to listen so up close and personal, since he and the grand piano is recorded by himself in his little wooden house in the middle of Copenhagen.................................................. ............................................................ ............Thomas Koppel was unique in having created important works in almost every musical genre, many of which remarkable international success. He has been awarded many prestigious awards, including the Carl Nielsen Award, Grammy, Film Academy Award, Lifetime Honorary Award of the Danish State, H. C. Lumbye Award, etc. ............................................................ ............................................................ .. Early Creativity.................................................. ..................................................Thomas Koppel was the oldest son of famous Danish composer/concert pianist Herman D. Koppel. He was one out of four brothers and sisters - all respected contributors to Danish musical life. From about the time he could walk, Thomas wrote music, influenced by a. o. Bartok, Strawinsky, Carl Nielsen, jazz, popular music, and world music.As a composer, Thomas Koppel learned by listening, studying, playing and writing. He played outside with the other kids of the neighborhood; yet music was already an indispensable part of his very existence. Music and art were everywhere around him: Progressive Danish painters and writers were frequent guests of the family. '78 records with everything from Prokofiew to Billie Holiday, Roumanian gypsy music to Javanese gamelans were a treasury of discoveries.Likewise, Thomas spent much time studying his father's many pocket scores with classical and modern music. He was an insatiable reader of books from Tarzan to Shakespeare to Brendan Behan, James Joyce. He wrote poems since he could write. When he was eight one poem was read on national radio by famous Danish actor Osvald Helmuth..................................................... ............................................................ ............Young Opera Triumph..................................................... ........................................Thomas Koppel 's Hans Christian Andersen opera 'A MOTHER'S TALE', written at the age of 18, became a sensation for it's dramatic power and professionalism, vocal knowledge, and sophisticated orchestration. A MOTHER'S TALE was performed by THE ROYAL OPERA for two consecutive seasons.Following the opera success Thomas Koppel was awarded the prestigious Carl Nielsen Award as the youngest composer ever........................................................ ............................................................ .........The Savage Rose:....................................................... ............................................The Danish Legend, The Savage Rose, alias Annisette & Thomas Koppel.Not only Bjork has mentioned The Savage Rose among her major influences; They are intensely loved throughout Europe and by their ten thousands of dedicated fans around the world.Annisette's name equals total integrity and honesty, absolutely unique stage performance and vocals, making her "one of 'pop music's most unique and powerful vocalists" (Archie Patterson, Eurock, USA).Thomas Koppel's name is synonymous with stone original composing and producing and enormous versatility: effortlessly moving from the mind-blowing songs of The Savage Rose to film music, symphonic works, musicals ballets and more. ............................................................ ........................................................ As noted in Miller-Freeman's US book 'The Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll', they are among the rare true ORIGINATORS of the music of today. However, as noted by Rolling Stone's David Fricke, The Savage Rose are far from nostalgia, they're "not prisoners of history because they never stopped making it". They are continuously at the very front edge of contemporary music, effortlessly combining elements of jazz, hip-hop, R&B, Alternative, and World Music into a unique, highly spicy and sensual pop, embracing audiences of all ages, nationalities, and ethnicities................................................. ............................................................ ..........Their 20 albums have been Gold, Platinum, Double Platinum, up to four times Platinum in Scandinavia. They have 2 Scandinavian Grammies, for BLACK ANGEL (1996) and TAMELESS (1999); innumerable Grammy nominations (including 3 for the 2002 album FOR YOUR LOVE); a Film Academy Award for best film score & song. Annisette and Thomas have both been nominated for the prestigious Great Music Award of the Nordic Council..................................................... ............................................................ ...........They have released 20 original albums; toured most of the world including prestigious festivals like The Newport Jazz festival (now the JVC Jazz Festival), the Montreux festival, the Molde Festival, Ragnarock and the Roskilde Festival. Their ballet "Triumph Of Death" is the greatest success of The Royal Ballet ever, with hundreds of sold-out performances worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York........................................................ ............................................................ ..........After a roaring start with albums recorded at e. g. the Mick Jagger mansion in the UK and the famous Mirasound Studios in New York, the artist rejected their managers' quest to go to Vietnam and have a picture taken shaking hands with President Johnson. They didn't want their music utilized for support of the war, and in order to save their minds and their creativity, The Savage Rose went underground for years; exploring their own native language, Danish. They lived among the underprivileged of Copenhagen but became a creative musical powerhouse, performing for huge audiences in many countries. They created eight underground albums during this period, eventually becoming cult objects all over Europe. A large chapter of 'The Unknown Legends Of Rock'n'Roll'' by Ritchie Unterberger (USA 1998) is devoted to this era in the history of The Savage Rose........................................................ ............................................................ ............The enormous productivity of The Savage Rose can only be understood in the light of their uncompromising and never-ending dedication to social justice and human rights. They once and for all refused to split their life and their music in two; their political courage has taken them to war zones and areas of dangerous oppression, even to performing in prisons and refugee camps along with peaceful, huge summer festivals. They have never complained about the career that was rightfully theirs but was taken away from them because of their honesty, but instead they stress that this kept them close to their audience and mentally sane as compared to many artists bending to corporate pressure.................................................... ............................................................ ............We have only mentioned a small part of their 20 original albums, their several large-scale music drama productions, symphonic music, and more. Thomas wrote the score for the independent Hollywood film 'Everything Put Together' by Marc Forster (MONSTERS' BALL) and numerous other feature films. ............................................................ ............................................................ ....Thomas, besides being a legendary composer of rare versatility, was a world-class producer, an awarded pianist, and a fine photographer. . . . .Among all the other classical symphonies and his own new solo album 'Imrovisations For Piano' he wrote a lot of classical music to the incredible and world famous flute player Michala Petri who also just released another amazing album 'Los Angeles Street Concerto' Michala Petri plays Thomas Koppel together with Lars Hannibal, Copenhagen philharmonic Ochestra, Bo Holten and Kremerata Baltica..................................................... ............................................................ .............. To get further information about all his works go to www.thesavagerose. com or Thomaskoppel.com ............................................................ ............................................................ ...... BUY THOMAS KOPPEL'S NEW ALBUM IMPROVISATIONS FOR PIANO/IMPROVISATIONER FOR KLAVER HERE: at:................http://www.cdon.com ........... http://www.imusic.dk ........... http://www.cdskiven.dk ............................................................ ............DOWNLOAD IMPROVISATIONS FOR PIANO HERE:................http://www.cdon.com ............. http://www.tdcmusik.dk ............. http://www.payload.dk ............................................................ ............................................................ ................... I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)