Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Porsanger, Northern Norway, Norway
About John Persen
- John Andreas Persen (9 November 1941 – 12 December 2014) was a Norwegian composer.
- John Persen grew up in a laestadian, Sami family in Ráigeadja in Porsanger and was a son-in-law of Finn Strømsted.
- In 1968, John Persen moved to Oslo to study music and initiated the establishment of the Norwegian Academy of Music at the same time.
- He was the student representative for the creation of the Norwegian Academy of Music (1969-1971), leader for the UNM music festival (1970-1973) and leader for Ny Musikk (1973-1976).
- He was a key player involved in Kunstneraksjonen 74 (an artist' right pressure group) and important advocate for the New Music.
- Together with Olav Anton Thomessen, he was a key initiator for the establishment of Norsk Musikkinformasjon in the early 1970s, which he was a board member of several times in the 1970s and 1980s.
- Furthermore, he was the initiator and first leader of the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival (1990-1994).Among his compositions are the opera Under kors og krone from 1985, and the orchestral work Over kors og krone.
- Both these works are based upon the Kautokeino rebellion in 1852.
- He was awarded Lindemanprisen in 1999, and Edvardprisen twice, and was awarded honorary membership of the Norwegian Society of Composers.
Read more at Wikipedia