We are so pleased to have Uffe Savery come and give a Q&A session to our young artists in Copenhagen this August. Thank you Uffe!
Uffe Savery, musician, cultural entrepreneur, educator and orchestra manager returned to The Royal Danish Academy to assume the presidency in August 2019.
Uffe Savery attended the Royal Danish Academy of Music starting in 1985 and graduated with a diploma and music pedagogical examination in percussion. In 1988, he founded ’Safri Duo’ with percussionist Morten Friis, and they devoted themselves to building a full-time career as a percussion duo. Uffe made his debut from the conservatory in 1992 with Safri Duo as soloists with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
As alumnus as well as teacher at RDAM for 8 years (1992-2000) Uffe Savery has always maintained close ties with the academy. Before taking on the role as President at RDAM, Uffe held the position of Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Copenhagen Phil (2010-2019). Uffe is a man of great vision and creativity and uses his ability to challenge the norms of classical music. Uffe inspired Copenhagen Phil to find their new brand and musical raison d’être and develop into an orchestra synonymous with edgy performances that touch audiences, that do not normally consider themselves fans of classical music. Among many other exciting projects, Copenhagen Phil became world famous as the very first symphony orchestra ever to perform flash-mobs.
Uffe’s passion is to create the future of classical music and classical musicians in an inclusive and co-creative environment where boundaries are pushed in order to imagine collaborations, performances, and formats that do not yet exist. To foresee the needs of the future of classical music and better yet – shape that future in close collaboration with students and staff at the Academy.
Uffe Savery’s musicianship represents a true devoted artist and a creative spirit with an extensive career as well as conventional, innovative and cross-cultural experience. Uffe is motivated by an entrepreneurial mindset, which he is eager to pass on to students at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. A great example of this approach to music was Safri Duo’s idea to mix live percussion and electronic music, which spread like wildfire across Europe, South America and much of Asia. The group is to this day among Denmark’s best-selling music exports – still performing in Denmark and abroad.
Uffe Savery also holds a diploma in arts- and culture management from the Danish National School of Performing Arts. Uffe is passionate about leadership and the importance of understanding business, education and cultural sectors and how they can inspire each other. Uffe has been successful in doing cross-sectoral research and using corporate learning theories in new contexts.
To Uffe, music is fundamental to the human existence and key words which characterise his work are ‘passion’, ‘imagination’, ‘creativity’, ‘co-creation’ and ‘co-ownership’, as well as leading true to the Danish double-folded meaning of the verb “to lead”: To seek the way, and To lead the way.
