Sofia Jernberg (born 5 July 1983, in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

) 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 ...

experimental singer, improviser, and composer. She is widely known for expanding the "instrumental" possibilities of the voice and is active both as soloist and in various bands. Her musical partners include internationally acclaimed performers such as Peter Evans, Eve Risser,

Fred Lonberg-Holm Fred Lonberg-Holm (born 1 October 1962) is an American cellist based in Chicago. He moved from New York City to Chicago in 1995. Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert wor ...

, Kim Myhr and Heiner Goebbels. Between 2002 and 2004, Jernberg studied jazz at Fridhems Folk High School. Later she studied for Per Mårtensson and

Henrik Strindberg Henrik Strindberg (born 28 March 1954) is a Swedish composer of contemporary music. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm from 1980 to 1987 where he studied for Gunnar Bucht and Sven-David Sandström amongst others. In ...

at The Gotland School of Music Composition. In 2008, she received the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( sv, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Ferdin ...

's jazz award. Jernberg is the leader (together with the pianist Cecilia Persson) of the chamber jazz group

Paavo Paavo is an Estonian and Finnish masculine given name, cognate to "Paul". The Finnish patronymic surname Paavolainen is derived from it. It may refer to: *Paavo Aaltonen (1919–1962), Finnish gymnast and a three-time Olympic champion *Paavo ...

. In 2008, the group received the "jazz group of the year" award from

Swedish Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is ...

. Jernberg is also working on the contemporary classical music scene, in which she serves as both singer and composer. As a singer she has premiered pieces by composers such as

Emily Hall Emily Hall (born 1978) is a composer of classical music, electronica and songs. Her music has been performed by the Duke Quartet, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, the London Sinfonietta, and the Philharmonia; it has been broa ...

Anna Thorvaldsdottir Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 122 ...

, Sigurd Fischer Olsen, and Lars Bröndum. She was a soloist with Norrbotten NEO when they performed

Arnold Schönberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

's ''

Pierrot Lunaire ''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a me ...

'' in 2010, and in

Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino (born 4 April 1947) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. Described as "the best-known and most performed Italian composer" of the present day, his works include ''Quaderno di strada'' (2003) and ''La porta d ...

's Lohengrin in 2014. Jernberg has composed for several established ensembles such as Duo ego and Norrbotten NEO. Other artists have included Jernberg's practice in their work and/or jointly developed forms of interdisciplinary collaboration, such as visual artist Camille Norment in Rapture at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

2015, or within the cinematic work Union of the North by artists

Matthew Barney Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and film director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing. His works explore connections among geography, biology, geology and mythology as well ...

, Erna Ómarsdóttir, and Valdimar Jóhannsson. The artist is holding lectures and workshops at various universities around Europe. Although having been adopted as a young child, Jernberg was never completely disconnected from Ethiopia. After traveling to

Addis Abeba Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

in 2000, she emerged into

Ethiopian music Ethiopian music is a term that can mean any music of Ethiopian origin, however, often it is applied to a genre, a distinct modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes. The music of the Ethiopian Hi ...

traditions—inspired by the film

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...

, among other influences—, and soon started collaborating with legendary musician

Hailu Mergia Hailu Mergia () is an Ethiopian keyboardist, now based in Washington D.C., United States. He is best known for his role in the Walias Band in the 1970s, one of the most significant groups in Ethiopia’s "golden age" of music. Biography Hail ...

. Jernberg lives in Oslo.

Discography

*2007 - ''paavo'' (with Paavo) - Apart Records APCD008 *2009 - ''Crochet'' (with Lene Grenager) - Olof Bright OBCD25 *2010 - ''Canço del Paó'' (with ''Paavo'') - Found You Recordings – FYR013 *2013 - ''Exit!'' (with Fire! Orchestra) - Rune Grammofon RCD 2138 *2014 - ''Enter'' (with Fire! Orchestra) - Rune Grammofon RCD 2158

References

External links

Interview 2009-11-15 by Urban Arhammar
*Interview 2019 https://www.digitalinberlin.de/sofia-jernberg/ *Interview and bio data https://jajajamusic.com/magma/sofia-jernberg/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Jernberg, Sofia Contemporary classical music in Sweden 1983 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Musikförläggarnas pris winners