Mattias Schulstad (born November 8, 1984) is a Swedish

classical guitarist This is a list of classical guitarists. Baroque (17th and 18th centuries) 19th century 20th century Contemporary See also * List of flamenco guitarists References {{DEFAULTSORT:Classical guitarists Cl ...

Early life and education

Mattias Schulstad was born near

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and began to play the guitar in Nacka Municipal Music School and at

Södra Latins Gymnasium Södra Skogsägarna, trading as Södra, is a forestry cooperative based in Växjö, Sweden. More than 52,000 forest owners in southern Sweden are members of the economic association that is Södra. They own just over half of all privately owned fo ...

. He continued his education at the

Malmö Academy of Music Malmö Academy of Music ( Swedish: Musikhögskolan i Malmö) is a Swedish public college dedicated to education and research within the fields of music and music pedagogy. The school is located in Malmö in southern Sweden and belongs to the Facu ...

with

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 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 ...

Career

Schulstad's first major recital was at age 17 at the Stockholm International Guitar Festival, and he has appeared on Spanish television for Televisión Española, and on radio in the United States for WQXR and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. Schulstad's debut recordin
Invocación
explores the music of Spanish composer

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as '' Capricho Árabe'' and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. Biography ...

and his influences from Chopin, as well as his legacy through his students

Miguel Llobet Miguel Llobet Solés (18 October 187822 February 1938) was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona, Spain. Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and Americas, America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk son ...

and

Emilio Pujol Emilio Pujol Vilarrubí (or ''Emili''; 7 April 1886 – 15 November 1980) was a Spanish composer, guitarist and a leading teacher of the classical guitar. Biography Emili Pujol was born in the little village of Granadella just outside Lleida, S ...

. It was chosen as CD of the Week by Classic FM, which calls Schulstad "brilliant", and Album of the Week by WQXR, which states Schulstad "has an innate feel for the music of Tárrega.”

Gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

magazine, named Invocació
Gramophone 'Choice'
William Yeoman stating: “The playing throughout is refined, intelligent and highly musical; the tone, though never sweet, is fulsome and appealing. An outstanding debut.” Schulstad has been featured on Classic FM,

KUSC KUSC (91.5 FM broadcasting, FM; "Classical California™ KUSC") is a listener-supported european classical music, classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and ope ...

WFMT WFMT (98.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, with a classical music radio format. It is part of Window to the World Communications, Inc, in the same company as Chicago's PBS member station WTTW. WFMT seeks donations ...

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 dec ...

, as well as having garnered a following on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Appearances include those at the Uppsala International Guitar Festival, Musik vid Siljan and Strathmore,Strathmore
/ref> as well as having made two appearances each at the Gustavus Artist Series at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavu ...

, and at the Sun Valley Winter Artists Series, in Sun Valley, ID. Composer
Jakub Ciupiński
an
Ryan Francis
have written guitar concertos for Schulstad, premiered wit
Metropolis Ensemble
in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

an
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble

Instrument

Mattias Schulstad plays a guitar made by Ignacio Fleta e hijos from 1971, and uses strings by Albert Augustine; Regal trebles and Blue basses. The guitar was passed on to Schulstad from his first teacher Erik Möllerström, who was able to acquire it during his studies in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, through the avail of his teacher,

Eduardo Sainz de la Maza Eduardo Sainz de la Maza (5 January 1903 – 5 December 1982) was a Spanish composer. Born in Burgos, he was brother of Regino Sainz de la Maza. Composing for the classical guitar, some of his notable works include the suite '' Platero y yo'' for ...

Inspiration

Mattias Schulstad is particularly inspired by singers

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...

and

Victoria de los Ángeles Victoria de los Ángeles López García (1 November 192315 January 2005) was a Spanish operatic lyric soprano and recitalist whose career began after the Second World War and reached its height in the years from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. ...

, pianists

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' " ...

and

Artur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist."Ar ...

, and by guitarist

Julian Bream Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...

. He is a self-confessed

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

fan.

References

External links

*
Mattias Schulstad
on Albert Augustine.com
Young Mattias Schulstad
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulstad, Mattias 1984 births Swedish classical guitarists Living people Juilliard School alumni 21st-century Swedish guitarists Musicians from Stockholm