Gisle Johnsen
Gisle Johnsen has been a musician throughout his life, and in the mid 70’s to the early 90’s, he led multiple rock bands in Norway. His most renowned band was Manmaid which was signed to RCA Records and toured in Europe.
After obtaining master’s degrees in both science and music composition, Gisle taught at the University of Bergen, and was Assistant Professor at the Grieg Academy. From 2000–2005, Gisle wrote three musicals which ran in Norway to acclaim. He was also the musical director for those musicals. He also served as the Head of Education at the Norwegian Music Council and created several courses in music teaching.
In 1994, Gisle co-founded BergenFest, a music festival in Bergen, and in 2003, established BergenLive together with colleagues from Bergenfest. BergenLive is now the biggest concert promoter in Norway in corporation with LiveNation, featuring acts such as the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and many others.