BIOGRAPHY

ALBERT SCHNELZER is one of Sweden's most frequently performed contemporary composers and made his international breakthrough at the Présence Festival in Paris 2004. His music is often described as energetic and forwardgoing, lyrical and fragile, but also directly accessible and intensly personal.

Albert Schnelzer was born in Värmland, Sweden on June 3 1972. Between 1994 and 2000 he studied at the Malmö Academy of Music and he has also studied at the master's level at the Royal College of Music in London. In 1998, while still a student, Albert Schnelzer won the competition Composers of Tomorrow with the orchestral work "Erupto", which was premiered by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. Albert Schnelzer was chosen to be a member of the Society of Swedish Composers in 2001.

INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH
During the 21st century he has taken his place among the most widely noticed younger Swedish composers, and in 2004 he scored an international breakthrough when his Predatory Dances, commissioned by Radio France, was premiered at the Présence Festival in Paris. Albert Schnelzer’s successful concert opener A Freak in Burbank was performed at the BBC Proms 2010 in Royal Albert Hall and was given rave reviews by the UK press. His listed works include orchestral compositions, concertos and a wide spectrum of chamber music. Albert Schnelzer is represented on several CD recordings, including a portrait CD on record label Daphne, and is published by Gehrmans Musikförlag. His music has been performed by orchestras worldwide such as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra Canada, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tromsø Chamber Orchestra, Arensky Chamber Orchestra London, Stockholm Chamber Orchestra (SNYKO), Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic (USA), Musica Vitae, The Västerås Sinfonietta, The Dalasinfonietta, Göteborg Wind Orchestra, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga (Latvia), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and is programmed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Swedish Radio Orchestra and the Pori Sinfonietta (Finland). He has collaborations with ensembles such as The Brodsky Quartet, Ensemble Ader (France), Kaskados (Lithuania), Ensemble Nordlys (Denmark), Nils-Erik Sparf and David Härenstam, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Mats Bergström and Cecilia Zilliacus, Weber Quartet and many others. Albert Schnelzer has represented Sweden at numerous festivals including MAGMA - The Biennal Festival of Nordic Contemporary Music in Berlin 2002, Musikbro 2001 (Denmark), Colloque Fou de Basson 2002 (France), Nordic Music Days 2004 (Denmark), IDRS 2004 (Melbourne, Australia), IDRS 2006 (Indiana, USA), Nordland Musikfestuke 2009 (Bodø, Norway), Nordic Music Days 2010 (Denmark) and BBC Proms 2010.

THE MUSIC
Albert Schnelzer's music has been described as "forwardgoing", "aggressive", "instrumentally demanding" but also as "fragile and vibrating" and "an aestetic that is more about personal expression than being modernistic correct". The music press have praised his inventiveness and personal musical language and he has a firm reputation among musicians for his ability to write idiomatic, but at the same time highly original. The interest in dance has resulted in a suite of works, where "Dance with the Devil" for solopiano is the first. The composer called this piece "a cross between Franz Liszt and Iron Maiden" and that might give you an idea what is channeled in his music. Another important ingredient is folk music, for instance the Balkan influenced "Limpin' Dances" for accordion, cello and piano where the composer have fused Klezmer scales with Swedish "polska" rhythms.