Composers

Music that you cannot frame into but it explodes from a new and original source

Benjamin Staern was born in Gothenburg on 6 December 1978 and grew up in Malmö. Private studies in music theory for Staffan Storm, composition for Mattias Svensson and musicology at the University of Lund. He then studied composition at the Malmö Academy of Music during the years 1998-2005 and was awarded Postgraduate Diploma in Music with teachers Rolf Martinsson, Prof. Hans Gefors, Björn-Tryggve Johansson (instrumentation/counterpoint), Kent Olofsson (computer music), Prof. Luca Francesconi as well with guest teachers Per Mårtensson and Lars Sandberg. He currently divides the time for composing and working as an arranger and copyist at the Malmö Opera.

Staern has received scholarships from the Royal Swedish Music Academy, Helge Ax:son Johnson, Annik and Lars Leander, Rosenborg/Gehrmans study grant for composers, Sparbanksstiftelsen Skåne and STIM. Member of FST - Society of Swedish Composers, Swedish Section of ISCM, Samtida Musik and Teaterförbundet.

The Music - Benjamin Staern composes music for symphony orchestra, electroacoustic media, chamber music and diverse solo works in a tonal language that is described as "engaging", "stimulating to the fantasy", "leave behind footprints to the listener" and "music that you cannot frame into but it explodes from a new and original source".

”The young tonal artist has already a dense and growing work list, that consists works for symphony orchestra, middle-sized and smaller ensembles down to solo compositions for different instruments also electroacoustic music. Among the interpreters of his music we find names as Mats Rondin, Hans Pålsson, Stefan Solyom and many others. A distinguished characteristic for his music is a brilliant sense for timbres that reflects widely the orchestration above anything else. You don’t get surprised when you realize that behind this beyond driven sensibility hides a generous bunch of natural talent; perfect pitch, photographic memory and synesthesia, that is the ability to see delicate pitches as colours, and timbre combinations as colour spectrum. His music, already immensly performed, will bring him far out to the world.” (Motivation for the Cultural Grant in Music 2007 from Sparbanksstiftelsen Skåne).

His music is performed at concerts and festivals throughout Europe by conductors as Michael Bartosch, Mika Eichenholz, Bjarte Engeset, Per-Otto Johansson, Everett Lee, Daniel Raiskin, Jan Risberg, Mats Rondin, Cecilia Rydinger Alin, Kai Röhrig, Albert Schnelzer, Stefan Solyom and Petter Sundkvist. Staern has cooperated with soloists as Håkan Hardenberger, Anna Larsson, Anne-Sophie Andersen, Björn Kleiman, Sara Hammarström, Kjetil Myklebust, Terje Thiwång, Pierre Torwald and Hege Waldeland. Swedish orchestras and ensembles performing his music includes the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras in Malmö, Norrköping, Helsingborg and Umeå, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra and Sonanza. He has also cooperated with European orchestras as Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, MDR Sinfonieorchester, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symhpony Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen as well as with the Tokyo Symhpony Orchestra.

For more information: www.benjaminstaern.se 

Selected works:

• Arpalinea
• Confrontation
• Jubilate
• The Threat of War
• Tranströmersånger

 

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