Øivind Bergh

Biography
Øivind Bergh studied violin in Dresden, Germany (1931-1933). During the 1930s, Bergh, who was a multi-instrumentalist (e.g. saxophone, double-bass), played in various Oslo entertainment orchestras, amongst others those of Kristian Hauger and Willie Vieth. At the same time, he worked in the recording studios as a musician and, later, as a musical director with those same ensembles and many Norwegian vocalists. From 1939 until 1946, he was conductor of the Bristolorkester, Oslo.

In ’46, Bergh’s orchestra was merged with the band of Norwegian radio to form the Kringkastingsorkester, the new orchestra of national broadcaster NRK. Bergh led this ensemble for exactly thirty years, until he was pensioned in 1976. With the Kringkastingsorkester, Bergh performed in countless radio and television shows, most famously the Schlagerparaden, a popular music show in the 1960s. He sometimes was asked to present radio and TV shows as well, such as Meloditimen and some editions of the Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian Eurovision heats, in which his orchestra usually accompanied all participants. When he left the Kringkastingsorkester in 1976, a tribute show called ‘Øivind het han…’ was broadcast on nationwide television.

Øivind Bergh was the conductor of all Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entries in the 1960s (including the country’s very first entry in 1960, ‘Voi-voi’), with the exception of the 1964 effort, when he was replaced by Karsten Andersen. The artists Bergh accompanied, were Nora Brockstedt (1960, 1961), Inger Jacobsen (1962), Anita Thallaug (1963), Kirsti Sparboe (1965, 1967, 1969), Åse Kleveland (1966), and Odd Børre (1968). Thus, Bergh came to a total of nine conducted songs, of which ‘Intet er nytt under solen’ (1966) did best; this entry came third.

In due course, a more extensive biography of Øivind Bergh will be published on this website