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Alexander Rybak
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Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igorevich Rybak (Russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak (Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак) is a Belarusian-born Norwegian singer, songwriter and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe throughout the early 2010s. Performing in English, Russian and Norwegian, Rybak has released five albums.
His debut 2009 album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a top position in Norway and Russia. After two pop albums in Fairytales and No Boundaries (2010), Rybak switched to become a family-oriented artist, focusing on children's and classical music and frequently performing with youth orchestras.
Rybak represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and won the competition with 387 points—the highest tally any country achieved in the history of Eurovision under the then-voting system—with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. Winning at the age of 23, Rybak was the then-youngest solo male winner of the contest and the only Belarusian-born winner to date.
Since then, Rybak has been involved several times in the contest. He represented Norway again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "That's How You Write a Song", winning the second semi-final and finishing in 15th place in the final. He performed as an opening act for the 2010 final and as an interval act in 2012 and 2016. Rybak has frequently provided commentary on the contest, and also worked as a journalist in 2011, and as a judge on the Belgian national finals in 2016 and 2023.
Rybak was born in Minsk, which at that time was part of Soviet Belarus. His parents hail from the town of Vitebsk in Northern Belarus. His father Igor Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performed alongside Pinchas Zukerman, defected to Norway in 1991 after a concert tour of a Belarusian chamber orchestra which he was part of. Rybak's father lived with a musical family who gave him shelter and food in exchange for violin lessons for their son. Alexander Rybak and his mother Natalia Rybak (née Gurina), who worked as a music journalist and a piano teacher, arrived in Norway on a tourist visa and were initially refused a residence permit. Eventually, the Rybak family settled in Nesodden and received Norwegian citizenship after seven years in the country.
At the age of five, Rybak began to play piano but eventually picked up the violin as his main instrument. He stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation". He became a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo at the age of 10. As a result of his Eurovision win in 2009, he took a break from his bachelor's degree studies at the institute, but in 2011 he returned to his studies, and in June 2012 he graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Music in violin performance.
In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize at the annual culture festival in Madrid, Spain. In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne, reaching the semifinal. In 2006, Rybak won Kjempesjansen ("The Great Opportunity"), a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with his own song, "Foolin". Rybak has collaborated with artists such as a-ha's lead singer Morten Harket and Arve Tellefsen. In 2007, Rybak played the fiddle in Oslo Nye Teater's production of Fiddler on the Roof and won the Hedda Award for this role.
Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing "Fairytale", a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak and was performed with the modern folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, and, in an ESCtoday poll, he scored 71.3%, making him the favourite to get into the final.
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Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igorevich Rybak (Russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak (Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак) is a Belarusian-born Norwegian singer, songwriter and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe throughout the early 2010s. Performing in English, Russian and Norwegian, Rybak has released five albums.
His debut 2009 album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a top position in Norway and Russia. After two pop albums in Fairytales and No Boundaries (2010), Rybak switched to become a family-oriented artist, focusing on children's and classical music and frequently performing with youth orchestras.
Rybak represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and won the competition with 387 points—the highest tally any country achieved in the history of Eurovision under the then-voting system—with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. Winning at the age of 23, Rybak was the then-youngest solo male winner of the contest and the only Belarusian-born winner to date.
Since then, Rybak has been involved several times in the contest. He represented Norway again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "That's How You Write a Song", winning the second semi-final and finishing in 15th place in the final. He performed as an opening act for the 2010 final and as an interval act in 2012 and 2016. Rybak has frequently provided commentary on the contest, and also worked as a journalist in 2011, and as a judge on the Belgian national finals in 2016 and 2023.
Rybak was born in Minsk, which at that time was part of Soviet Belarus. His parents hail from the town of Vitebsk in Northern Belarus. His father Igor Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performed alongside Pinchas Zukerman, defected to Norway in 1991 after a concert tour of a Belarusian chamber orchestra which he was part of. Rybak's father lived with a musical family who gave him shelter and food in exchange for violin lessons for their son. Alexander Rybak and his mother Natalia Rybak (née Gurina), who worked as a music journalist and a piano teacher, arrived in Norway on a tourist visa and were initially refused a residence permit. Eventually, the Rybak family settled in Nesodden and received Norwegian citizenship after seven years in the country.
At the age of five, Rybak began to play piano but eventually picked up the violin as his main instrument. He stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation". He became a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo at the age of 10. As a result of his Eurovision win in 2009, he took a break from his bachelor's degree studies at the institute, but in 2011 he returned to his studies, and in June 2012 he graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Music in violin performance.
In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize at the annual culture festival in Madrid, Spain. In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne, reaching the semifinal. In 2006, Rybak won Kjempesjansen ("The Great Opportunity"), a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with his own song, "Foolin". Rybak has collaborated with artists such as a-ha's lead singer Morten Harket and Arve Tellefsen. In 2007, Rybak played the fiddle in Oslo Nye Teater's production of Fiddler on the Roof and won the Hedda Award for this role.
Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing "Fairytale", a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak and was performed with the modern folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, and, in an ESCtoday poll, he scored 71.3%, making him the favourite to get into the final.
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