The Musician

The Musician - "Our most precius gift in life is time - vivere la vita lentamente"

"Passion, love, patience, and humor that is my guideline...music belongs to everyone - it arouses great emotions in the audience when the artist expresses himself - it is a spiritual meeting place "...

In 1983 I founded the concert organization The Castle Concerts of 1983, and since then I have arranged my own concert series at a large number of concert places, concert halls, churches, castles and museums in both Denmark and abroad. I am often invited to other festivals. I have devoted my career to chamber music, soloist performances, and teaching. I was educated by flute studies with Principal Flutist Verner Nicolet from the Royal Opera Orchestra in Copenhagen and on piccolo with the legendary Principal Piccolo Preben Rasmussen from the Royal Opera Orchestra. I graduated with a diploma with distinction from Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt" in Weimar with prof. Johannes Walter, Principal Flutist in Staatskapelle Dresden. The interest in Boehm flutes of wood later led to studies with two prominent and experienced musicians, Principal Flutist Jan Visser of the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Amsterdam, and Principal Flutist Mathias Schmidt of Staatskapelle Berlin, where the wooden flute has been used for decades.

The Flute Tone

"You have to master all the problems of technique to be free to express yourself through your instrument. You can have a big imagination and a big heart but you cannot express it without technique. The first quality you must have to be good, to be inspiring, is the sound. Without the sound you cannot achieve anything. The tone, the sound, the sonorité is most important. Otherwise, with the fingers alone it is not enough... Everyone these days has the fingers, the virtuosity... but the sound, the tone, that’s not so easy."

♪ Bach h-mol Andante 1:51 - Largo e dolce - Presto 3;42 Live rec. Mogens Friis, flute (Brögger Ag.925) & Yuzuru Hiranaka, Silbermann spinet
♪ J.M.Leclair: Sarabande 2:42, Live recording - Mogens Friis, flute, (Brögger 14kt.) & Yuzuru Hiranaka, Harraß harpsichord
♪ C.Ph.E. Bach: Largo 5:15, Live recording - "Deux Flûtes"- Verner Nicolet (Muramatzu 14kt.) & Mogens Friis (Brögger Ag.925)

On Flutes - a Stradivari

I have a collection of flutes from the 1800s and more recent time from Europe, America, and Japan. Furthermore I play on many different headjoints of wood, carbon fibre and various precious metals in silver, gold and platinum as they have decisive influence on the sound. My favourite headjoint is of sterling silver and built according to Louis Lot tradition by Johan Brögger; it is with an extra thin tube of 0,28mm, a slim parabola and a relatively small embouchure blowhole, whiich gives a light and bright sound – in my opinion a pure Stradivari. Louis Lot embouchure and Head cuts - Head cuts measuring

At the beginning of the 1980s I became acquainted with the Danish flutemaker, Johan Brögger in Copenhagen, and later we have developed an intense friendship and extensive co-operation. Since 1986 I have worked for Johan Brögger at transforming his inventions into patents and design protection, and in his workshop I have carried out fine overhauls, restoration, and building of flutes. Johan Brögger's flutes are produced by Brannen Broths, Boston and Miyazawa Flutes, Japan.

The inventor, musician, and composer Theobald Boehm (1794 – 1881) - writes in his book ”Die Flöte und das Flötenspiel”, - I believe that I have now pointed out the surest way in which one may acquire a correct and elegant style of playing, so that he may be prepared to delight himself and others not only with difficult compositions, but also with simple and beautifully played songs.

"He who, like myself, has been fortunate enough to have heard, for more than 50 years, all the greatest singers of the time, will never forget their names. It fills me with joy to remember their artistic and splendid performances; they have all come forth from the good old Italian school of song, which today, as in the past 100 years, gives the foundation for a good voice formation, and leads to a correct understanding of style, which is an essential for the instrumentalist as well as for the singer.

Theobald Boehm

"Man is an instrument - life is a song" - all aspects of culture shape man... Simon Schama, historian

Lauritz Lebrecht Hommel Melchior (1890-1983), Wagnerian tenor - "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"
"Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein" (Walther's Prize song)