Kroumata was a Swedish professional
percussion ensemble
A percussion ensemble is a musical ensemble consisting of only percussion instruments. Although the term can be used to describe any such group, it commonly refers to groups of classically trained percussionists performing primarily classical m ...
which was active from 1978 until 2015. The name derived from the ancient Greek word for percussion instruments.
The group was founded in Stockholm in 1978 by Ingvar Hallgren, Anders Holdar, Jan Hellgren och Martin Steisner.
Its members had worked as percussionists in the military services in Sweden, and their aim was to perform percussion chamber music.
In 1990, Kroumata entered into a contract with the nonprofit foundation
Rikskonserter, which was a part of the
Swedish Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture ( sv, Kulturdepartementet) is a ministry within the government of Sweden responsible for culture policy. The ministry is headed by the Minister for Culture, currently Parisa Liljestrand ( m).
The Ministry of Culture is ...
. From 1990 until 2008, the ensemble was employed by Rikskonserter.
Kroumata toured extensively in Sweden and internationally, and performed with orchestras including the
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...
and
Berliner Symphoniker The Berliner Symphoniker (''Berlin Symphony Orchestra'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin, Germany.
History
The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as ''Symphonisches Orchester Berlin'', under the auspices of ...
,
as well as separately as a solo ensemble. More than 240 works were written for the group, by composers including
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (russian: Софи́я Асгáтовна Губaйду́лина, link=no , tt-Cyrl, София Әсгать кызы Гобәйдуллина; born 24 October 1931) is a Soviet-Russian composer and an established ...
,
Sven-Erik Bäck
Sven-Erik Bäck (16 September 1919 – 10 January 1994) was a Swedish composer of classical music. He was born in Stockholm.
Bäck studied from 1939 until 1943 in the King's Music-Academy and from 1940 until 1945, was a composition student of ...
,
Sven-David Sandström
Sven-David Sandström (30 October 1942, in Motala – 10 June 2019) was a Swedish classical composer of operas, oratorios, ballets, and choral works, as well as orchestral works.
Life and career
Sandström studied art history and musicology at ...
,
and
Georg Katzer
Georg Katzer (; 10 January 1935 – 7 May 2019) was a German composer and teacher. The last master student of Hanns Eisler, he composed music in many genres, including works for the stage. Katzer was one of the pioneers of electronic new music ...
.
In 2015, the ensemble was dissolved, as it was becoming increasingly difficult for the members to live on the income generated by their performances and recordings.
Many of the percussion instruments used by Kroumata were owned by Rikskonserter and subsequently by the Swedish Performing Arts Agency. In 2015, the
Stockholm University College of Music Education took over the administration of this collection of instruments, and in 2019 it was made available to musicians through the Kroumata Percussion Center.
Members
The founding members of Kroumata were Ingvar Hallgren, Jan Hellgren, Anders Holdar, and Martin Steisner. Anders Loguin was not one of the initial members, but was hired soon after the ensemble's inception.
When Kroumata was dissolved, the members were Roger Bergström, Pontus Langendorf, Ulrik Nilsson, and Johan Silvmark.
*Roger Bergström, 1991-2015
*Pontus Langendorf, 2010-2015
*Ulrik Nilsson, 2008-2015
*Johan Silvmark, 1983-2015
*Anders Holdar, 1978-2009
*
John Eriksson, 1999-2008
*Leif Karlsson, 1979-2008
*Anders Loguin, 1978-2008
*Ingvar Hallgren, 1978-1999
*Jan Hellgren, 1978-1990
*Martin Steisner, 1978-1984
References
External links
Official website archived version from 2015
{{Authority control
Percussion ensembles
Swedish musical groups
Contemporary classical music in Sweden