 |  | |  |  Anders Hillborg gained his first musical experience singing in choirs and he was also involved in various forms of improvised music. From 1976 to 1982 he studied counterpoint, composition and electronic music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where his teachers included Gunnar Bucht, Lars-Erik Rosell, Arne Mellnäs and Pär Lindgren. Brian Ferneyhough, who was a guest lecturer at the College of Music on several occasions, was also an important source of inspiration.
Apart from occasional teaching positions, Hillborg has been a full-time freelance composer since 1982. His sphere of activity is extensive, covering orchestral, choral and chamber music as well as music for films and pop music.
Anders Hillborg's orchestral music has been performed by many major conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel, David Zinman, Andrey Boreyko, Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Michael Gielen, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, John Storgårds and many others.
Orchestras that has performed his music include Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Bayerishe Rundfunk Orchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonie, Helsinki Philharmonic.
He has received commissions from leading performing organisations such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zürich, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg
Symphony. Other notable musicians he's worked with include clarinetist Martin Fröst, mezzo soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, choir conductor Eric Ericson. | | Reviews/articles/interviews in the right pane: move your mouse pointer over
an article to stop scrolling. Click title to read entire review/article/interview. | | | | |
Concert Reviews
För den som har följt Hillborg är det intressant att se hur flera bekanta element återfinns i Cold Heat: de långa ackorden som långsamt växer och tonar ut och glider in i varandra som ebb och flod, de...
"...What a voyage! What an education to hear the charm of the Sirens unfazed. Bravi to all! Salonen and the LA Phil, Ax and Beethoven, Hillborg, Plitmann, von Otter, and the Master Chorale navigated us through a very special night of...
"...The main impression is simply an irresistibly gorgeous and sometimes weird soundscape that Ulysses must somehow resist." Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2011
Monday evening's Prom brought one of the pieces i've most been looking forward to hear in this year's season, the first London performance of Cold Heat by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg. Few composers in recent times have revivified the...
...Cold Heat, deploys contradictions to make its often powerful effect. At the opening swirling, jangly woodwind oscillations stand against monumental brass chords and long, icy string notes, almost suggestive of the Scandinavian landscape from...
"...a powerfully crafted landscape of slow-moving ice floes and ice screams..." The Times
"In typical Hillborg fashion, Cold Heat explores a paradox – the request of David Zinman (the work’s dedicatee) that it be a “toe-tapping, rhythmic sort of piece, with NO slow music whatsoever” only partly met − as...
"In essence, Cold Heat is a scherzo, much of which proceeds at a considerable lick: Zinman has to gesture frantically in order to conduct it. The whirling figurations, however, are underpinned by a series of sustained chords in brass and...
Record Reviews
A milestone in Swedish Music. Andreas Hanson, CD-revyn, Swedish National Radio
"This is a remarkable set of new orchestral works and richly deserves a listen". musicweb-international.com, Dominy Clements
A l’instar d’un John Adams, Anders Hillborg sait retrouver le rythme, essentiel et déterminant pour émouvoir plus que pour séduire. A n’en pas douter, voici un des meilleurs...
Golvad av Hillborg − CD-revyn, Sveriges Radio P2, 16 oktober 2011.
Vidöppet klangfyrverkeri! ...En ny kalejdoskopiskt gnistrande multikanals SACD från BIS visar bredden i hans orkesterkomponerande. Mats Meyer-Lie, HiFi & Musik, 20 september 2011
...King Tide är det verk som skiljer ut sig på denna cd genom sina återhållsamma, men inte mindre effektfulla, uttrycksmedel. Det inleds svagt med ett tremolo i stråkarna och man...
Allt får ta plats i Hillborgs toner Sedan något årtionde tillbaka har det funnits anledning att prata om ”konsertmusik”. Det låter som en självklarhet (vilken musik...
Hur ska man beskriva de klangvärldar som öppnar sig i Anders Hillborgs ”Eleven gates”? Kanske som en natt i Disneyland, med de vänliga djuren kompletterade med skrämmande...
Articles/Interviews
My first encounter with the world of Anders Hillborg came a few years ago, through a recording of his Violin Concerto of 1991-92. After being utterly seduced by its luminous, pulsing opening, a headlong post-minimalist...
Anders Hillborg går inte att artbestämma; hans musik framförs såväl av världens symfoniorkestrar som av Eva Dahlgren och i filmer. Han är vårens tonsättare i Berwaldhallen...
ANDERS HILLBORG vågar strunta i det mesta, utom att vara noggrann. I hans värld tillåts musiken vara kärv, insmickrande, humoristisk eller brutal. Vare sig det gäller kör, kammarmusik eller större orkesterverk. Även som...
What do subway busking, volcanoes, and a Swedish composer have in common? They´re all part of the genesis of Liquid Marble, a 1997 composition by Anders Hillborg that´s on the program of the San Francisco...
Mångsidiga Anders Hillborg blir vårens tonsättare i Berwaldhallen. Och på torsdag har hans verk "Eleven Gates" sin Europapremiär på samma scen. Moderna tonsättare har svårt att få sina verk spelade men Anders...
| | | | |