Petter Udland Johansen
About
BIO
Petter Udland Johansen is a Norwegian singer, composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist whose musical journey embraces early music, classical repertoire, folk traditions, and contemporary songwriting. Known for his expressive tenor voice and poetic presence, he weaves together sound worlds that transcend time and genre.
At the center of his artistic life is Hirundo Maris, the ensemble he co-founded in 2009 with harpist and singer Arianna Savall. Together they form the creative heart of the group, exploring the musical dialogues between the Mediterranean and the North. With roots in early music and traditional song, their work blends historical repertoire with their own compositions, creating a personal and timeless soundscape. Hirundo Maris is a regular guest at major European festivals such as the Styriarte Festival (Austria), Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), Oslo Kirkemusikkfestivalen, Jazz in Church (Romania), All’Improvviso (Poland), and Fest für Alte Musik Köln (Germany).
Their debut album Chants du Sud et du Nord, released by ECM Records and produced by Manfred Eicher, was met with international acclaim. The ensemble has since released a number of recordings on Carpe Diem Records, Grappa, Ramee, MUVE Records, and CAP.
Petter is also one of the founding members of Pechrima, a singer-songwriter trio with Christer Løvold and Mark B. Lay. The group writes and performs original songs with rich vocal harmonies and a blend of acoustic instrumentation, rooted in poetic texts and a modern storytelling tradition.
As a conductor, Petter leads two Swiss choirs: Sing2gether and the Allschwil Gospelchor. His work with these ensembles reflects his passion for vocal music as a shared and uplifting experience, combining stylistic breadth with a strong sense of community.
He is also a longtime member of the Oslo-based trio Sagene Ring, with Erik Fosse and Per Martinsen, focusing on original compositions and lyrics inspired by everyday life in East Oslo. With Capella Antiqua Bambergensis in Germany, he has performed in large-scale historical projects and recorded the celebrated Christmas album In the Bleak Midwinter, which reached the Top 10 of the German classical charts (JPC).
Born in Oslo, Petter began his musical training with voice, violin, and piano, and earned his diploma at the Norwegian Academy of Music in 1996. He later specialized in early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, studying with Richard Levitt, and continued advanced vocal studies with German tenor Hans Peter Blochwitz.
Together with Arianna Savall, he serves as artistic director of the Bardonecchia Harp Festival in Italy and co-musical director of the Fête Médiévale de Saillon in Switzerland, where they lead large-scale historical productions featuring over 200 musicians.
A passionate pedagogue, Petter gives regular singing workshops in Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Poland. His teaching focuses on voice, expression, traditional and historical styles, and the deep human connection at the heart of music.
He lives in Switzerland and continues to perform, compose, teach, and conduct throughout Europe, with Hirundo Marisas his artistic home.
Hirundo Maris
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Arianna Savall & Petter Udland Johansen
Founded in 2009 in Basel by Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen, Hirundo Maris is an ensemble that explores the musical connections between the North and the South — between the shores of Scandinavia and the Mediterranean. Its name, Latin for “sea swallow,” symbolizes the group's spirit of musical migration, tracing ancient cultural routes across oceans and centuries through early music, traditional songs, and original compositions.
With artistic roots in early music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, Hirundo Maris combines historical repertoire with a deeply personal creative language. Arianna and Petter bring together their backgrounds in classical, traditional, and contemporary music to shape a unique and poetic sound world — where voices, harp, Hardanger fiddle, and other instruments blend into a living, breathing musical narrative.
Over the past 15 years, the ensemble has performed at leading festivals throughout Europe and beyond, including:
Styriarte Festival (Austria), Menuhin Festival Gstaad, Fest für Alte Musik Köln, Jazz in Church (Romania), Oslo Kirkemusikkfestivalen, Nordlysfestivalen Tromsø, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Misteria Paschalia (Krakow), Jordi Savall Festival in Poblet, Agapé Festival (Geneva), Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele, RheinVokal, Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, KlangVokal Dortmund, Festival de Música Antiga dels Pirineus, Espurnes Barroques, and many others.
The ensemble’s discography reflects their creative evolution:
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Chants du Sud et du Nord (ECM Records, 2012) – produced by Manfred Eicher
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Vox Cosmica (Carpe Diem Records, 2014)
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Il Viaggio d’Amore (Carpe Diem Records, 2015)
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The Wind Rose (Carpe Diem Records, 2017)
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Silent Night (Sony Classical, 2018)
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Poésie et Musique (Fuga Libera, 2021)
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El Cant de la Sibil·la & Draumkvedet (Carpe Diem Records, 2023)
The group's sound is shaped by improvisation, expressive vocal artistry, and innovative arrangements. Blending traditions such as Sephardic, Catalan, Norwegian, and Celtic music with original songs and a deeply intuitive approach to early repertoire, Hirundo Maris creates spaces where the listener is invited into another time — not as a distant past, but as a shared emotional present.
Beyond the stage, Hirundo Maris is deeply committed to education and outreach. The ensemble regularly offers workshops and masterclasses across Europe and engages in educational projects for children, youth, and adults, including collaborations with El Musical Conservatory in Bellaterra, working on projects such as El Llibre Vermell de Montserrat and Mozart’s Requiem.
The ensemble also collaborates with a wide network of distinguished artists and ensembles, including Jordi Savall, Carlos Núñez, Hofkapelle Graz, Die Freitagsakademie, Les haulz et les bas, Res Temporis, and Ensemble vocal de Saint-Maurice, and works with labels such as ECM Records, Carpe Diem Records, Sony Classical, Ramee, and Fuga Libera.
Whether on stage or in the classroom, Hirundo Maris offers audiences and participants a rare experience: to step across boundaries of time, language, and geography — into a space where music becomes storytelling, memory, and renewal.
“What one experiences in a concert with Hirundo Maris is a deep invitation into the world of each piece. Doors are opened, and we enter with body, soul, and spirit. The joy, enthusiasm, and artistic generosity of the musicians create a space where words are often unnecessary — and something new is always born.”
— Oliver Serge Stuber
“Arianna Savall and Petter Udland Johansen embark on a journey through time and space, weaving together traditional (Sephardic, Catalan, Spanish, Celtic, Norwegian) music with original compositions. The result is a deeply personal and poetic musical language — marked by refined instrumental colors, expressive vocals, and remarkable ensemble interplay. Hirundo Maris truly lives up to its name, soaring from continent to continent, from era to era.”
— Yutha Tep
