Kjell Bækkelund

[4] Bækkelund debuted as a prodigy in 1938 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of eight.

In 1953 Bækkelund won first prize in the Scandinavian Musicians' Festival held at Trondheim.

That same year, he was granted the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award for young professional musicians of outstanding promise.

He followed with study under the direction of German classical pianists, Hans Richter-Haaser and Wilhelm Kempff.

[5] From the beginning of the 1960s, he performed several worldwide concert tours with the main emphasis of his repertoire consisting of baroque and the classic-romantic music.