Anders Elten

Concert marimbist and educator

Biography

Anders Elten is a Danish percussionist and educator specializing in the art of marimba performance.

He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark, under Professors Gert Mortensen and Johan Bridger, making his debut from the Soloist Class in 2019. During his studies, he won First Prize in all the major academic competitions, including the internal solo competition, the internal ensemble competition, and the annual concerto competition.

Anders has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Third Prize and the Keiko Abe Honorary Award at the Universal Marimba Competition in Belgium, the Grand Prize in the ENKOR Music Competition, the Sonning Talent Prize, the Gladsaxe Music Prize, and the esteemed Danish Radio P2 Talent Prize. He was also a recipient of the Aennchen and Eigil Harby Foundation Scholarship.

Currently, Anders serves as a marimba teacher at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the University of Stavanger’s Faculty of Performing Arts. He frequently appears as a guest teacher at conservatories worldwide and conducts masterclasses at international percussion courses, such as the Zivkovic International Summer Academy for Marimba and Percussion in Vienna, the Milkov International Marimba Summer Camp in Greece, and Percussive in Denmark. In September 2025, he will join the 11th edition of the International Katarzyna Mycka Marimba Academy in Essen, Germany, as a guest teacher.

In addition to his teaching and solo performances, Anders collaborates with composers to expand the repertoire for modern marimba. He has premiered solo works by composers such as Benjamin de Murashkin and Jeppe Ernst. In 2019, he premiered the first movement of Danish composer Daniel Fladmose’s marimba concerto with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra.

Anders also performs extensively with Danish percussionist Mathias Reumert in the Reumert/Elten Percussion Duo, offering concerts and masterclasses in Denmark and internationally. In 2021, the renowned French composer Philippe Manoury dedicated Argumenta to the duo, which they premiered the same year. In 2023, they released the album Argumenta, featuring this work alongside other compositions by Philippe Manoury and a new transcription of Maurice Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. That same year, the duo made its U.S. debut, performing in New Orleans, Chicago, and at PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention) in Indianapolis.

Anders Elten is a Yamaha Artist and an endorser of SchlagKraft mallets.