Glaser has had a number of works written for him and he is currently working on his project "Conversations with J.S.Bach". Glaser wants to explore the potential to connect the music of Bach with present-day approaches and has commissioned new companion pieces to be played alongside each of the Bach cello suites. Six different Norwegian composers have focussed on one Bach suite each. His hope is to create a unique meeting point between the past and the present; a conversation across timelines.
In January 2019 Ernst Simon Glaser performed a cello concerto written by Hungarian composer, Peter Etvs, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Etvs conducting.
"In the cello concerto, the orchestra's principal cellist, Ernst Simon Glaser, impressively reveals the virtuoso levels against the eight cello voices that make the music sing and tonal" - Magnus Hagland (about Peter Etv's cello concert), Gteborgs-Posten
Glaser received the Young Soloist of the Year award in 2001 and the Debut Prize in 2004 in Norway. His debut recording of 2005 with Liv Glaser on fortepiano (Schumann and Schubert - Simax) was well received. His recording with the Norwegian Navy Wind Band consisting of four cello concertos with winds inspired an English reviewer to write that Glaser "with groove and elegance explores new avenues within contemporary music ".
His latest CD on BIS (2017) was nominated for a Swedish Grammy. Here Glaser is a soloist in Tommie Haglund's "Flaminis Aura" with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (conductor David Afkham).
After studying with Ralph Kirshbaum, Ernst Simon Glaser was employed as the co-principal cellist in Trondheim Symphony Orchestra at the age of 22. From 2001-2011 he was a principal cellist in the Norwegian Opera Orchestra. He is currently a principal cellist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden's National Orchestra.
Glaser has previously taught at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim, and at the Norwegian Academy of Music as Truls Mrk's assistant, and substitute. He has also given master classes at home and abroad in addition to teaching at the Barratt-Due Music Institute in Oslo.
Ernst Simon Glaser plays on a cello built by Francesco Ruggieri, Cremona approx. 1680, generously made available by Dextra Musica.
