Rolf Lislevand is a performer of Early music

Early music

Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...

. He is a master of ancient lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

, Spanish vihuela

Vihuela

Vihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...

 and theorbo

Theorbo

A theorbo is a plucked string instrument. As a name, theorbo signifies a number of long-necked lutes with second pegboxes, such as the liuto attiorbato, the French théorbe des pièces, the English theorbo, the archlute, the German baroque lute, the angélique or angelica. The etymology of the name...

.

From 1980 to 1984, Lislevand studied classical guitar

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

 at the Norwegian Academy of Music

Norwegian Academy of Music

The Norwegian Academy of Music is a music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the country's highest level of music education. As a university college, it offers both undergraduate and postgraduate...

. In 1984 he entered the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, and focusing on early music and historically informed performance....

 in Switzerland, under the tutelage of Hopkinson Smith

Hopkinson Smith

Hopkinson Smith is an American lutenist.Born in New York, he graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music...

and Eugène Dombois up to 1987.

Since his first album with works by composer Hieronymus Kapsberger, he had gained various awards: Diapason d’Or, Choc de le Monde de la Musique, 10 de Répertoire, etc.