Truls Olaf Otterbech M�rk is a Norwegian cellist. He was born in Bergen, Norway, the son of two professional musicians, his father a cellist and his mother a pianist. His mother began teaching him the piano when he was seven. He also played the violin, but soon switched to the cello, taking lessons from his father. M�rk began his studies with Frans Helmerson at 17 at Edsberg Music Institute. An admirer of Mstislav Rostropovich and the Russian school of cello, M�rk went on to study with the Russian cellist Natalia Shakhovskaya. In 1982, M�rk became the first Scandinavian musician to reach the finals of the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow since Arto Noras in 1966, and won the sixth prize. He subsequently went on to win second prize at the 1986 Naumburg Competition in New York and, in 1986, the Cassado Cello Competition in Florence. In 1989, he embarked on his first major concert tour, soloing with many of the finest orchestras of Europe. In 1994, he toured the United States with the Oslo Philharmonic, including debuts at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. 

April 25th, 1961 in Bergen (Age 63) as Truls Olaf Otterbech Mørk