Anders Eliasson

Anders Eliasson was born on 3 April 1947 in Borlänge (Sweden). He was not born into a highly musical family and so came to music step by step. Starting just with the music from the radio, he began to play the trumpet at the age of 9 and founded his own small jazz ensemble. He made own arrangements of works for his band and it was not until the age of 14 that he received serious lessons in music theory. At that age Anders Eliasson went to organist Uno Sanden who taught him harmony and counterpoint. At the age of 16 he became private student of Valdemar Söderholm in Stockholm. After finishing school in 1966 Anders Eliasson began his music studies at the Stockholm conservatory under Ingvar Lidholm and again Valdemar Söderholm which he completed in 1972.

It seems that Anders Eliasson then completely focused on composing music. I have no information that he worked as a musician, conductor or teacher in the years after his studies. But he surely did anything else to make his living because it took nearly 20 years until his international breakthrough as a composer. This came in 1992 when Anders Eliasson received the Nordic Council Music Prize for his Symphony No.1. After winning this renowned award he became a widely performed and recorded composer. Already in 1996 the International Composer's Festival in Stockholm was dedicated to Anders Eliasson and 37 of his works were performed during the festival. In following years he established himself as one of the leading composers of Sweden and one of international recognition.
Anders Eliasson died on 20 May 2013 in Stockholm (Sweden).

Clarinet concerto

In my possession is the autograph full score of Anders Eliasson's Concerto for clarinet and orchestra. The manuscript is 111 pages long and written on "Fermato 22 System" music paper. The title of the work in the manuscript is "Concerto per clarinetto ed orchestra" and interestingly missing the subtitle "Sette passaggi". The work was composed in 1992 and is dedicated to clarinetist Hakan Rosengren. It was premiered on 11 February 1993 by Hakan Rosengren, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Kazufumi Yamashita. The score was published by the Swedish publishing house Gehrmans Musikförlag and consists - curiously - of the facsimile of the autograph in my possession!