It was in an article in “Illustrert Nyhedsblad” (Illustrated News) in 1862 that Ole Bull first proposed the idea of a Norwegian musical academy. Ole Bull’s endeavour to create a Norwegian academy or a music conservatory in the 1860s was an honest effort to establish a seat of learning where Norwegian folk music made out the very foundation.
Ole Bull did not succeed in this, and a hundred years were to pass before another of our great musicians, Sigbjørn Bernhoft Osa, picked up the idea. In the period after 1945 higher musical education found its form in this country, with “Norges musikkhøgskole “ (Norwegian Academy of Music) as the finishing touch in 1973. All this was established without the folk music acquiring a place in any institution. In 1976 Sigbjørn Osa gathered some good friends in his home whom he thought would be able to make Ole Bull’s dream a reality. Sigbjørn was not a stickler to formalities; he appointed this group of friends as a board for the institution. In the autumn of 1977 the work was started. Today the foundation Ole Bull-Akademiet, is a unique and highly valued part of higher musical education in this country.
