Category: Blog posts

Valborgsmässoafton, Walpurgis Night, is an important day of festivities in Sweden and Finland with a history stretching back many centuries. is a particular highlight for choristers and university students – two groups that also often overlap – with plenty of classic choral works associated with Walpurgis Night and various student activities on April 30th in the major… Continue reading One Time, in Finland

Even if you know me only superficially, you might very reasonably assume that my life is always full of music. Inasmuch as that may be true, this weekend ended up especially so, and mostly by happy coincidence. Back in February, following my initial visit to Wermland Opera in Karlstad to hear the world premiere of… Continue reading A Life Full of Music

This morning, I made the short drive to a nearby mountain to go for a morning walk with the dog. I had checked the weather regularly for the past few days, and it was consistently promising cool, sunny weather. What I did not expect, however, was for yesterday (Wednesday) to offer a full day of… Continue reading A Lovely December Morning

I have had several experiences in the past few days where different pieces of music have reminded me of other music. One of them teased at my mind for days – I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it reminded me of. The other was immediately clear as day. And less than an… Continue reading Musical Reminiscence

This Maundy Thursday evening I’m thinking back to last weekend and working at this year’s Sundsvall Guitar Festival. I presented the festival’s three evening concerts – three very different programmes ranging from Irish folk to Renaissance music. The first evening was all about Baroque and Renaissance music, as the concert coincided with the European Early Music… Continue reading All Good Things

Last week, I had the pleasure of seeing two operas, both composed fairly recently, by two Swedish composers. As someone who far too rarely gets out to actually enjoy a performance in an audience, getting two opportunities in the same week was not refreshing and artistically invigorating. First was Mats Larsson Gothe’s The Promise, with… Continue reading A Bright Future for Swedish Opera

Last week, during a visit to Karlstad for a concert at the Wermland Opera, I attended a walking tour at one of the city’s cemeteries. The guide talked about various women buried there who had contributed to city’s development in significant ways, some even earning international fame. I had planned on writing this post about… Continue reading Lasting Impressions

I’m making excellent progress on my brand-new concert piece for the Octava Chamber Orchestra set to be premiered by them this summer. Pretty soon, the only thing left will be the hardest thing to figure out of all: the name of the piece. Working on this composition has also turned into kind of an exercise… Continue reading What’s in a Name

I have gone on regular tangents over the years about my views on crossover projects and the inherent difficulty in doing them well. Earlier this week, I stumbled on a brand-new example of what is, in my opinion, a crossover project done wrong. First of all, I want to give some well-deserved praise to Welsh… Continue reading Crossed Out

I have finally gotten started properly on both of this year’s two (so far!) larger composition projects. I had hoped to get going as early as January, but I was kept busy by working on or preparing other jobs. The two projects in question are the short opera for the Royal Swedish Opera, premiering Spring… Continue reading Great Artists Steal (From Themselves)