Mats Johan Bergström (7 March 1961) is a Swedish guitarist and composer principally focused in the genre of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. Borne in

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

, Sweden, he received his MFA from the

Royal College of Music, Stockholm The Royal College of Music, Stockholm () is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was made independent of the Academy in 1971, and ...

in 1982, and did post-graduate study at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

, 1990–92. He made his debut in 1983 at

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and has since been a freelance soloist, accompanist and ensemble musician. Bergström has collaborated with such artists as Mikael Samuelson,

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

, Edda Magnason,

Göran Söllscher Göran Söllscher (born 31 December 1955) is a Sweden, Swedish award-winning virtuoso classical guitarist known for his broad range of musical interpretations, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach to the Beatles. Söllscher's international ca ...

, and

Malena Ernman Sara Magdalena Ernman (born 4 November 1970), professionally known as Malena Ernman, is a Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer. Besides operas and operettas, she has also performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, and appeared in musicals. She is a member ...

, among others. He played acoustic guitar on the ''Douce France'' album of Swedish

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

Anne Sofie von Otter Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs. Early life Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swedi ...

, which won the 2015

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Recognition

*1993 –

Fred Åkerström grant Fred Åkeström grant is an allowance granted every year to "a person who has worked in a significant way to preserve, develop, and / or create Swedish Swedish ballad tradition, visor." It was named after Fred Åkerström. The custom began in 1987 ...

(with Mikael Samuelson) *2006 – Member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music (), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in ...

*2011 –

Litteris et Artibus Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature. The ob ...

References

External links

{{Sweden-guitarist-stub 1961 births Living people people from Gävle Litteris et Artibus recipients Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Juilliard School alumni