Karin Rehnqvist (born 21 August 1957) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

composer and conductor of classical music. She composes chamber music, orchestral works, music for the stage, and particularly vocal music, incorporating elements of folk music such as the vocal technique of

Kulning Kulning or herding calls is a domestic Scandinavian music form, often used to call livestock (cows, goats, etc.) down from high mountain pastures where they have been grazing during the day. It is possible that the sound also serves to scare away ...

. In 2009 she was appointed the first female professor of composition at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

in Stockholm.

Career

Rehnqvist was born in Stockholm and grew up in

Nybro Nybro (, outdatedly ) is a city and the seat of Nybro Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 13,583 inhabitants in 2020. Overview Nybro was founded as a rest area for travellers on the road between Växjö in the west and Kalmar in the east. ...

. She studied music pedagogy at the

in Stockholm from 1976 to 1980, and continued to study composition to 1984, with Gunnar Bucht, Pär Lindgren and Brian Ferneyhough, among others. Between 1976 and 1991 she was the artistic director and conductor of the choir ''Stans Kör''. From 2000 to 2003 she was Composer in Residence with the

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and S ...

and the '' Svenska Kammarorkestern''. For them she composed a series of works including a concerto for clarinettist

Martin Fröst Martin Fröst (born 14 December 1970) is a Swedish clarinetist and conductor. He is principal conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He is also a developer of multimedia projects with music, choreography and light design, in which he appea ...

, and the symphonic work ''Arktis Arktis!'', inspired by a polar expedition in the summer of 1999. These two works were recorded in May 2005. Her choral symphony ''Light of Light'', which features children's choir and orchestra, was premiered in Paris in 2004. In 2006, a retrospective of her work was presented by the

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset. His ...

, conducted by

Niklas Willén Niklas Willén (born March 30, 1961) is a Swedish conductor. He was born in Stockholm and studied conducting and composition there at the Royal College of Music. His conducting teachers were Professors Jorma Panula and Kjell Ingebretsen, while h ...

. In 2009, Rehnqvist was appointed the first female professor of composition at the Royal College of Music.

Composition

Several of Rehnqvist's works were composed for the voices and interpretation of

Lena Willemark Lena Willemark (born 12 May 1960) is a Swedish traditional music fiddler, singer, and composer, who combines elements of folk and jazz. Born in Älvdalen, Dalarna, Willemark grew up with the region's folk music. In Stockholm in the 1970s, she al ...

and Susanne Rosenberg, both having a past as folk singers, such as ''Davids nimm'' and ''Puksånger-lockrop'' (1989). Rehnqvist includes

kulning Kulning or herding calls is a domestic Scandinavian music form, often used to call livestock (cows, goats, etc.) down from high mountain pastures where they have been grazing during the day. It is possible that the sound also serves to scare away ...

(cattle calling) in her works, a high-pitched vocal technique used by

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

shepherds to communicate over long distances, calling livestock down from high mountain and possibly scaring away

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s. ''Puksånger & lockrop'' (Timpanum Songs – Herding Calls) was her second major vocal composition, set for two singers and percussion, in which kulning "begins the piece and sets the atmosphere for the entire work", followed by a section based on "condescending traditional Finnish proverbs" about women, described as "highly effective satiric attacks on misogyny. This section is followed immediately by a kulning section, which represents a rebellion against the previous ideas". Rehnqvist composed ''Solsången'' (Sun Song) in 1994, scored for chamber orchestra with one female solo singer and two narrators. The text is partly based on the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic ''

Sólarljóð The ''Sólarljóð'' (''The Song of the Sun'') is an Old Norse poem, written in Iceland ca 1200. It is written in the traditional metric style of the ''Poetic Edda'', but with content from Christian visionary poems. The poem is anonymous, even thou ...

'' (The Song of the Sun), an Old Norse poem written c. 1200 in the traditional metric style of the ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...

'', but with content from Christian visionary poems.

Awards

In 1996 Rehnqvist received the Läkerol Arts Award “for her renewal of the relationship between folk music and art music” and the Spelmannen Prize by the newspaper ''Expressen''. In 1997 she was awarded the Christ Johnson Prize for ''Solsången'' (Sun Song). In 2001 she received the Kurt Atterberg Prize and in 2005/06 the Rosenberg Award. In March 2006 Rehnqvist was awarded the honour of a major retrospective by the

. In 2007 Rehnqvist received the Hugo Alfvén Prize. In 2014 she was awarded a

Grammis The Grammis are music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden. The oldest Swedish music awards, they were instituted as a local equivalent of the Grammy Awards given in the United States. The awards ceremony is generall ...

in the category Classic for the CD ''Live''. In 2022 the Nordic Council Music Prize was awarded to Rehnqvist for the ecological crisis oratorio ''Silent Earth'', (libretto by Kerstin Perski) which received its premiere on January 29, 2022 after postponements in the two previous years. It was performed in the

Concertgebouw, Amsterdam The Royal Concertgebouw ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouw, ) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" translates into English as "concert building". Its superb acoustics place it among the finest concert halls i ...

by the Dutch Radio Choir and the Dutch Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gijs Leenaars.'Then it finally became the world premiere for Silent Earth', composer's website, 29 January, 2022
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References

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

World Leaders Forum
Karin Rehnqvist
Furore-Verlag {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehnqvist, Karin Swedish composers Litteris et Artibus recipients 1957 births Living people Swedish women composers

Career

Composition

Awards

References

External links