As the first flutist in Norway with a BA in performing jazz, Henriette Eilertsen (b. 1993) graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where she has since been exploring the role of the jazz flute in the present-day music scene.
Eilertsen has a versatile approach, where genre specifics, traditions and constellations are merely starting points for further exploration. Be it with her own solo project which culminated in the album Poems for Flute (2021), where acoustic recordings float side by side with bitcrush sounds, in the space music band Billy Meier; in the 60s free jazz group Andreas Røysum Ensemble; in the highly active 16-piece composers' collective OJKOS, where Eilertsen was one of the founders and has composed two commissioned pieces; or with ensembles such as Trondheim Jazzorkester, Fieh and Erlend Apneseth Ensemble.
In 2024, Eilertsen received the Kongsberg Jazz Festival's distinguished musician award, which she followed up with a three-part residency at the festival in 2025, including the commissioned work Just a Universe, featuring Jon Balke, Heida Mobeck and Nils Berg. She has been nominated for the Spellemann Award twice: in 2022 with Happy Village (Master Oogway with Henriette Eilertsen), and in 2024 for her own album Om tålmodighet.
Working with the solo format on one hand and a big jazz orchestra on the other, Eilertsen established the perfect middle ground: Henriette Eilertsen Trio, with Joel Ring on cello and Øystein Aarnes Vik on drums. Ring brings a deep-diving curiosity to the cello, an instrument he came to after years as a double bass player, while Vik's drumming combines impeccable touch with a modern jazz language inspired by West African rhythms. The trio premiered with a five-concert tour in France in November 2023, and has since received a warm welcome on the Scandinavian jazz scene.
Henriette Eilertsen Trio released Moder ("Mother") in March 2026, a warm, mysterious and alluring journey that has earned them a reputation as one of the most tightly-knit trios on the Norwegian jazz scene right now. The album has received great reviews in several papers, and was featured as one of the best jazz albums of March 2026 on Bandcamp.
"The music does not strive for the avant-garde for its own sake; instead, it seeks a deeper resonance with the listener's subconscious. Eilertsen has successfully translated her historical instrument into a future-facing language, delivering a debut for the trio that is as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally generous." — James Broscheid, The Big Takeover.