BIOGRAPHY:\ A larger-than-life sized bronze statue of ERLING BLÖNDAL BENGTSSON stands in front of Reykjavik´s University Concert hall in Iceland´s capital city. Erected in 1970, the statue, by the Icelandic sculptress Olöf Palsdottir, is the testimonial to the esteem in which the legendary cellist is held by all of Scandinavia.\ ERLING BLÖNDAL BENGTSSON regularly performs in Europe, the United States, South America and Russia.\ He has appeared with most of the world´s leading orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Salzburg´s Mozarteum Orchestra, the Hague´s Residentie Orchestra under the direction of many of today´s leading maestros, such as Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, David Zinmann, Sixten Ehrling, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Commissiona.\ His repertoire is all-encompassing and he has championed the works of leading Scandinavian composers, as well as performing the Scandinavian premieres of cello concertos by Britten, Barber, Khatchaturian, Delius, Lutoslawsky and Walton and, indeed, the latter two, themselves, conducted several performances each with Mr. Bengtsson as soloist.\ A consistent recording artist, with over 50 albums, he has, along with the complete standard repertoire for cello and orchestra, recorded many contemporary concertos, most of which were dedicated to him. In 1985, his recordings of the six Cello Suites of J.S. Bach on the Danish label DANACORD, was selected as The choice of the year by the American recording magazine Fanfare. In 1998 his recording of the Zoltán Kodály Solo Sonata, was chosen by the GUINNESS CLASSICAL 1000 as being one of the top 1000 recordings of all time.\ At the age 16, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson was accepted by the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he took up studies with Gregor Piatigorsky. One year later, he became Piatigorsky´s instructing assistant and the following year became a faculty member of the Curtis Institute.\ A world-class performer who also enjoys pedagogy, Mr. Bengtsson has become a role model for a whole family of young cellists in Europe and abroad. During the course of a career spanning five decades, he has been on the faculties of the leading conservatories of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Cologne.\ In 1990 he returned to the United States as a full professor at the School of Music of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor until 2006. He is now concentrating on concertizing and giving master-classes.\ Erling Blöndal Bengtsson has been awarded the Knight, first class, of the order of Dannebrog, Denmark, and from Iceland, the Grand Knight of the Order of the Falcon.\ He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and has been awarded the English Hyam Morrison Gold Medal for Cello. In 1993 he was honored with the title Chevalier du Violoncelle by Indiana University, School of Music, Eva Janzer Memorial Cello Center. In 2001 he received the Manchester International Cello Festival s Award of Distinction . \ Named Premier Master Cellist 2005 by The Detroit Cello Society,U.S.A.\ The IFPI ( The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) Honorary Award 2006. Copenhagen, Denmark.\ A DVD was released nov. 2007, The Cello and I to celebrate EBB s 70 years on the concert stage.\ --------------------------------------------\ After a stroke in 2007 the cello is silent, but not his spirit- and EBB is doing quite well.\ EBB`s legacy lives on in all the recordings and the DVD .