Clara Yuna Friedensburg, winner of the 2025 Polstjärne Prize and recipient of the German Prix Young Artist, grew up in a musical family and began playing the cello at the age of seven. She made her debut at age eleven with the Barratt Due Youth Orchestra and has since performed with renowned orchestras such as the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gidon Kremer’s Kremerata Baltica, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Her highlights include performances at the Verbier Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Kronberg Festival, the Bachwoche Ansbach, the Sion Festival, the Copenhagen Summer Festival, and the Festival der Nationen in Bad Wörishofen.
As a former student of the Barratt-Due School under Eirik Ree, Louisa Tuck, Ernst Simon Glaser, and Tove Sinding-Larsen, Clara is now continuing her studies at the prestigious Kronberg Academy in Germany under Frans Helmerson, and is also a participant and scholarship recipient in the Podium development program (Talent Norway).
Clara plays a Francesco Ruggieri cello (Cremona, 1688), generously provided by the Norwegian ASAF Foundation. Her studies are funded by the Strauss Endowment, ASAF, the Tom Wilhelmsen Scholarship, and the Hans and Stefan Bernbeck Scholarship.
As Young Artist in Residence for the 2026–27 season, she will perform three times with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.