Composers

Rolf Martinsson is one of Sweden’s internationally most represented contemporary composers. During the past few years, his music has been performed in several countries, in venues such as New York, Vienna, Paris, London, Berlin, Prague, Madrid and Tokyo.

His cooperation with Håkan Hardenberger, which commenced in the late 1990s with the first performance of the trumpet concerto Bridge, opened the doors to the international stage. This was an immediate success, and Hardenberger has since performed the work at some 40 different concerts, for example at the Berliner Philharmonie. 

His cooperation with Christian Lindberg has also formed an important part of Martinsson’s international breakthrough. The trombone concerto Fairlight, received high critical acclaim following its first performance in the Stockholm Concert Hall in the spring of 2005. It has since been performed among others at the historic Musikverein in Vienna by Lindberg and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. 

Martinsson has taken part in many international cooperation projects together with leading conductors, soloists and orchestras. In 2005, the BBC Symphony Orchestra commissioned and premiered Martinsson’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Mats Lidström as soloist and Mario Venzago conducting. Rolf Martinsson also cooperates on a continuous basis with the major Swedish orchestras. The Malmö Symphony Orchestra has during the past few years performed all his orchestral works and solo concertos; and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has under the baton of Alan Gilbert frequently been on tour with Martinsson’s music to Japan and the Balkans, as well as other countries.

Rolf Martinsson’s production includes some 90 different works, spanning and representing an impressive musical breadth: orchestral works, solo concertos, choir music, several chamber music works for a variety of instrumental conformations, radio theatre, and soloist works, to mention a few. His music is characterised by a powerful stylistic awareness and exceptional musical craftsmanship, together with highly skilled orchestration, which contribute towards making him a much appreciated and preferred composer by many different musicians.

In the spring of 2009, Anne Sofie von Otter premiered Martinsson’s Orchestral Songs together with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under its chief conductor Vassily Sinaisky. Rolf Martinsson holds the position of Artistic Advisor with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Chair in Musical Theory including arrangement and composition at the Malmö Academy of Music. 

For more information: http://www.rolfmartinsson.com

Selected works:

• A. S. in Memoriam
• Bridge - Trumpet Concerto No. 1 
• Concerto Fantastique
• Fairlight - Trombone Concerto No. 1
• Open Mind 
• Orchestral Songs

 

 

 

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