The new Managing director has a degree in literature from the University of Oslo and has spent the last 14 years working with the development of the Deichman Library in the Oslo municipality and the previous five years as director.

Following the news of his new position Skansen said, “The combination of the orchestra’s unique position, the ambitions in realizing a new concert hall, and with it the opportunity for organizational development and development of the orchestra’s role in society constitutes a rare momentum where a lot can be achieved. I am very much looking forward to starting this work.”

Oslo Philharmonic’s chairman, Kristin Skogen Lund added, “Knut Skansen is a strategic, wise and empathic leader who thinks visionary about the institutions he leads. What he has achieved with Deichman, Norway’s largest cultural institution, shows his ability to carry out significant change and create something new. His experience with making the physical and organizational frameworks for a new culture house will be ultimately decisive in succeeding with a new concert hall.”