Category: Blog posts

This Monday I co-led admissions tests for music composition applicants to the Kapellsberg Music School in Härnösand. The applicants were tested on basic music theory and ear training, general stylistic knowledge, creative compositional thinking and basic instrumentation skills, as well as being interviewed individually by the head composition teacher and myself. It’s interesting to hear… Continue reading The Blue Giant Passes By

Besides finally getting the chance to start working on some brand new compositions, I have also gone back to a couple of my older works to gently edit, or in some cases, rework them more comprehensively. Perhaps most exciting are the new pieces I’m working on. To be fair, one of those ostensibly new pieces… Continue reading Like Reacquainting Yourself With an Old Friend

Still a little tired after Saturday’s marathon working with this year’s edition of the local contemporary music festival Nymus Live in Härnösand. Weeks of preparation paid off handsomely in the form of a diverse, all-day programme with no less six concerts featuring various flavours of contemporary music. The afternoon started off with a kind of… Continue reading In the Service of Music

I admire musicians who not only work in different genres and settings but also relish and even excel in them. That is just the kind of musician I myself strive to be, as well. I suppose it relates to my belief that it makes more sense to look at how different kinds of music relate… Continue reading More than Two Sides

Re-orchestrating or re-arranging music from one instrumental setting to another is an interesting job that presents slightly different challenges than simply writing a brand new piece of music for a particular set of instruments. On the one hand, you have the existing music that is (presumably) written with the particular requirements, possibilities and of course… Continue reading Don’t Despair, My Would-Be Juliet

The other week, I was commissioned to write a biographical text about Professor Dorothy Irving, an extraordinary singer and voice coach who devoted her career to the awareness and development of communication between stage performers and their audience. For more than a decade, Dorothy Irving toured up and down the country performing classic works by… Continue reading A Method of Communication Between Individuals

Another jam-packed work week is the reason behind yet another delayed blog post. The annual contemporary art music festival Swedish Spring Music opened last Saturday and has been occupying most of my waking hours since as I am working behind the scenes with the festival and presenting most of the concerts. In addition, I squeezed… Continue reading The Sound of the Future, Today

Some of the greatest experiences you can have as a composer is naturally to hear your music performed live in concert. I was thrilled to have not one but two new compositions premiered last summer and in August this year one of them will get its second performance. The piece in question is my Sonata… Continue reading All of My Loving for You Girl

On the one hand, I can scarcely believe it has already been over a month since my last blog post. On the other, I can definitely believe it, considering what an incredibly stressful month it has been. Perhaps you thought I had abandoned my blog, dear reader, not even a year into this lovely regular… Continue reading What a Difference a Month Makes

I have been too busy these past days to update the blog, but at the time of writing, Thursday afternoon, I am beginning to get back on top of things and want to take a few moments to muse on the experience of performing in Härnösand Cathedral last Sunday. I went to High School in… Continue reading A Real Singer