It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like

…the end of the year is approaching. Looking back, as we tend to do as some things end and others begin, it has been an interesting year with some real musical highlights. In hindsight, I’m not sure if 2024 has been one of my most exciting years yet, as I wrote here on New Year’s Day, but I actually feel pretty darn confident that 2025 will be!

On top of mind, of course, is the short-story opera I created with librettist Tora von Platen which premieres on May 29th at the Royal Swedish Opera. Consider this a reminder to get your tickets before they sell out! The first performance sold out in a couple of days, and I’ve heard whispers that the other four performances are selling pretty well, too.

While I finished the work itself back in October, the project as a whole is still ongoing as I have yet to make the orchestral parts. Those needn’t be done until April, so there is no real stress, but I’d like to get it done sooner rather than later, both for the satisfaction of checking off that big box and for getting to focus even more on future projects.

Back on January 1st, I wrote with confidence that “I look[ed] forward to actually focussing on one thing for a chance […] the thing that I most of all want to do: composing music”. I did indeed compose those two larger works I mentioned in the same blog post – Brio, for the Octava Chamber Orchestra in Seattle, and the short-story opera The Loving Mother, for the Royal Swedish Opera – but other than that, composing projects have been thin on the ground.

The only other piece I finished this year was a setting of the Nunc dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, for male chorus, dedicated to the outgoing bishop of the Härnösand diocese. That was a spur-of-the-moment idea brought on by hearing from my friend Per that the bishop had wished to include a male chorus setting of the Nunc dimittis in Swedish, but that he could not find any such work. ‘Challenge accepted,’ I thought to myself. It turned out quite a nice piece, and especially rewarding was bishop’s reception of the piece.

Back in October, in one of my more philosophically reflective posts, I elaborated on my reason(s) for doing what I do and how it can be an important point of focus to know what they are or, in the words of renowned U.S. politician Nancy Pelosi, to ‘know your why’. Getting to use my particular skillset to enhance now Bishop Emerita Eva Nordung-Byström’s last Sunday Service (article in Swedish) and the delight my contribution brought to her in particular, as well as the churchgoers in general, reaffirms my confidence and pride in my own personal ‘why’.

Looking forward to 2025, I look to the premiere of The Loving Mother with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. The response so far from the four soloists and the production team has been unequivocally positive and collaborating on the opera with Tora, my librettist, was a pleasure. I am proud enough of the result that I can’t wait to for the world to see it, while still fretting over what people will not like about it.

Also, while I have had earlier works critically reviewed before (positively, I am glad to say), this feels bigger, more important. I try to reassure myself that a negative review likely won’t have that much of a long-term impact after the initial detraction and disappointment. On the other hand, I think that a positive review could have a much longer tail as yet another kind of ‘stamp of approval’, not so much for my own frail confidence’s sake as for that of possible future commissioners and/or programme producers.

One work of mine that has turned out a success story is my Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, written for and performed several times by bassoonist Sebastian Stevensson and pianist Henrik Berg, and since also adopted by Sebastian and pianist Asuka Nakamura, with whom he plays in Trio Nastela together with oboist Emmanuel Laville.

Trio Nastela has commissioned a trio for oboe, bassoon and piano that will be my main musical project in the first part of next year. I could not ask for better ambassadors for my music than them; not only are they fantastic musicians, but also engaging stage performers, and absolutely delightful to work with at that.

Smaller composition projects include finishing a couple of choral pieces I started on this year and even the last, but never got around to finishing, as well as making new arrangements of Skule Overture for wind band and chamber orchestra, respectively.

Additionally, I need to dedicate time to promoting my music, getting more pieces published and in front of more ensembles, conductors and performers. An outside observer might well think that my work as a freelance composer begins with an idea and ends with the finished sheet music, but since I don’t have a general manager, a contract publisher, or an agent, I need to do all those things myself, as well.

One such tangentially composition-related thing is recording three of my most recent choral pieces this spring with David Wahlén and his High Coast Vocal Ensemble. Those same three pieces will then be published and promoted later next year by Scandinavian music publisher Gehrmans. Recording the pieces with David and his ensemble will make for a great bit of cross-promotion for all of us.

I need to be even more careful next year about picking jobs outside of composition, in order to maximise the time and energy I can spend on what I purport to be my main profession. I already have a handful of non-composition-related jobs lined up, one of which is rather substantial, so – note to self! – once again I am reminding myself to learn from my past mistakes and not keep repeating them year after year.

Two years ago, I made a conscious decision to gradually scale back projects unrelated to composing and have overall done a pretty good job at it. Back in January, I reflected on how celebrated Swedish composer Anders Hillborg challenged himself to stick with composing and not give up for 10 years, avoiding the pitfalls of a side job or other sources of safe income. It’s kind of too late for that for me (plus, I have house renovations to finance besides my living expenses), but at least I can try a version of the (admittedly both over- and misused) adage “working smarter, not harder”.

Speaking of which, the subject of my first post back in June was “here’s a glimpse of my chaotic life!” after not posting for an entire month (due to that month being chaotic). As long as I’m on top of things and everything is going according to plan it can be exhilarating and stimulating to have periods like that. Periods like that, where my schedule is essentially maxed out completely, are also quite sensitive to disruptions. And, as I also wrote back then, those periods are incompatible with getting any real composing work done.

So, where does all this leave me on such a pleasant Christmas Eve as this one?

But most of all – I wish you a very Merry Christmas.