Earlier this year, I traveled with my beloved choir to the International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland. Such trips always have a team-building quality, but this one was special in the way the choir came together on a purely musical level, in terms of energy. By heart, we sang a slow and hushed hymn by Estonian composer Pärt Uusberg, Meie isa palve, a setting in Estonian of the Lord’s prayer. As we performed this piece many of the choir members had a sensational, “out-of-body” experience, supremely spiritual – one where we touched each others’ souls with our singing, breathing together like one body, sharing several minutes of the most intimate musicality one can imagine. This unforgettable experience inspired me to write a new piece, completely different in style, but with lyrics (that I wrote myself) thanking God for all that the experience of singing can give us. The result is this piece, Gratias Deo, which quickly became a favourite for the choir with a lot of fun passages in alternating 7/8 and 5/8 meters. Here is a recording of the piece performed by Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider.

Here is the recording from the premiere performance of my setting of the Christmas gospel, Julevangeliet for SATB, reciter and string quartet. This was performed by Hedvig Eriksson (soprano), Amanda Flodin (alto), Mikael Englund (tenor) and Karl Peter Eriksson (bass) together with the Wulfson Quartet, conducted by Ulrike Heider and with myself reading underscored scripture at the Haga Church, Göteborg, on December 22. The 45 minute 12-movement work was commissioned by the Church of Sweden and was inspired by the traditional English Nine Lessons and Carols.

I have spent an intense month of November writing a setting of “The Christmas Gospel” (Julevangeliet) which will be premiered at the Haga Church, Göteborg, on December 22. Commissioned by the Church of Sweden for its celebration of Christmas, this is a 12 movement suite written in the swedish and latin languages for string quartet, SATB soloists (or choir) and reciter.

The form is inspired by the traditional English Nine Lessons and Carols, expanding the traditional Swedish reading of ‘The Christmas Gospel’ (Luke 2:1-20) into a longer, approximately 40 minute work with underscored scripture readings combined with four part motets. Those are new settings of O magnum mysterium, Lux in tenebris, Det är en ros utsprungen (an arrangement of the Swedish version of A Spotless Rose), Ave Maria, In natali domini and Hodie Christus natus est. Only a couple of these are a cappella – the string quartet is providing the foundation for this work either underscoring the recitation, accompanying the singers or performing their “own” material either as thematic statements or as interludes.

While I have written a lot of choral music, this is a first – and humble! – attempt at composing for string quartet. I am excited that the Wulfson Quartet is going to perform the work for the first time, together with four excellent singers: Hedvig Eriksson (soprano), Amanda Flodin (alto), Mikael Englund (tenor) and Karl Peter Eriksson (bass). Ulrike Heider is the music director and I will do all of the readings myself.

So grateful for the opportunity to write this piece, which provided an opportunity for me to go back to my roots and interest in musical storytelling. Fingers crossed the music, and the performance, will evoke some of the magic of the magnum mysterium of Christmas!

As a concert producer specializing in the film music repertoire, I have been working quite a bit with Gothia Concentus, which is possibly the largest amateur symphony orchestra in Sweden. They do great concerts with a mix of film, video game and classical music. As a little gift to them for their 2017 season, I wrote a new fanfare to open their concerts. Of course, it’s based on the two pitches G and C! Enjoy!

I am pleased to announce that the wonderful Helsingborgs Vokalensemble will premiere my setting of The Lord Is My Shepherd in competition during the international choral festival ‘Canta en primavera’ in Málaga, Spain, on April 27, 2017. The women’s choir and its director Marianne Ivarsson commissioned the eight part piece and will perform it for the first time in their program which also features a new piece by David Basden. Good luck to the choir!