Kent Olofsson

KENT OLOFSSON was born in Karlskrona in 1962. He is mainly associated with chamber music, often written for instruments in combination with electronics - meticulous compositions that evolve out of a close collaboration with particular musicians and ensembles. Himself a guitarist - he began his musical career in the symphonic rock group Opus Est in the late 1970s and early 1980s before studying composition in Malmö between 1984 and 1991 - the guitar has taken on a central role in many of his works. A notable example is the grandiose "Il Liuto d’Orfeo" for guitar and tape, an intricate and singularly wistful piece specially composed for fellow guitarist Stefan Östersjö. The work took home first prize in the 1999 International Competition for Electroacoustic Music in Bourges, France. Otherwise of note amongst his series of works centring on certain aspects of sound and technology are the provocative pieces for solo instrument. All works in the series are titled "Treccia" (lattice-work), which betrays the aesthetic and the compositional methods he probes here. In fact Olofsson has written music in most genres - orchestral, solo concerto, vocal, electroacoustic, rock (he writes for the art rock band Dame Wiggens, with which he is also the guitarist) - and has composed music drama works, music for art exhibitions, and music for dance performances with choreographer Efva Lilja’s dance company - notably "The Illuminated Dream Aflame" from 2001, a mammoth production at the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, which was watched by over 7,000 visitors. With titles and themes that allude to the conceptual world of antiquity, and with influences from Oriental music and the technical and tonal universe of the renaissance, Olofsson traverses wide expanses. The relative technical complexity is often parried with a surprising immediacy born of his confident ear for acoustic texture and for the purely human experience of tonal transmutation. This "psychoacoustic" sensitivity lends his music, without compromise, the ability to get intimately close to the listener. Kent Olofsson also works as a teacher at the Malmö Academy of Music. / Tony Lundman, 2003 English translation: Neil Betteridge / The music of Kent Olofsson has been performed by ensembles and musicians as Ensemble Recherche , Ensemble Intercontemporain, Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Göteborgsymfonikerna, Radiokören, Vokalharmonin, Octour de Violoncelles Beauvais, Islands Symfoniorkester, Ensemble Ma, Danish Radio Sinfonietta, Sardine Sauvage dansensemble, New Ear Ensemble , Orchestre Flûtes Français, Stefan Östersjö (guitar), terje ThiwÃ¥ng (flute), Jaques Bernaert (cello, Frankrike), Fredrik Ullén (piano), Jonny Axelsson (percussion), James Crabb (accordion), , Jörgen Pettersson (saxophone) and conducters as Lothar Zagrosek, Mario Venzago, Franck Ollu, Christian Eggen, Fredrik Malmberg, Staffan Larson, and James Wood./ Over 40 of his works are released on CD. /Composition Awards:IL LIUTO D’ORFEO (guitar and tape) First Prize at the composition competition for electroacoustic music in Bourges 1999, in the cathegory for instrument and tape.FASCIA (charango, electric MIDI-guitar, tape and orchestra) 3:rd prize at Musica Viva / Bayerische Rundfunk Orchester, BMW Composition Competition for orchestra, sampling and soloists 2002. Performed by Bavarian Radio Orchestra October 2004. Cond. Lothar Zagrosek, sol. Stefan Östersjö.ALINEA I-III (string quartet and tape and computer) First Prize at CIMESP 2001, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Composition competition for electroacoustic music. Jury selected and performed at ISCM 2003 Ljubljana.HEPHAESTUS FORGE (percussion and orchestra) Lilla Christ Johnson-Prize 1998, Royal Academy of Music, Sweden