Photo: Johannes Sunde

BARBRO MARKLUND - mezzo

Barbro Marklund, mezzosoprano, is one of Scandinavia’s most sought after and experienced singing teachers. For almost three decades she worked as a professor of singing at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she recently has been appointed Professor Emeritus. She has also for many years taught singers at the opera academies in Oslo and Stockholm, and had private students coming from all over the world. After her extended freelance carrier as a singer, she is still active as a leader of master classes, a jury member and lecturer.

In December 2006, Barbro was appointed Honorary Professor at the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga. She has also for three years worked as a vocal coach for professional opera singers at the Latvian National Opera, and has been engaged as a vocal teacher for the operas in Vilnius and Klaipeda.

Barbro Marklund is well-known for her deep interest in languages, singing technique, exercise analyzes and problem solving, and for her vast knowledge of repertoire from all epochs. She owns a huge private library of music albums, collected from her travels from many parts of the world, and she can correct singers’ pronunciation in 12 languages. She has been a very active guest teacher, chairman and jury member for singing competitions, leader of employment juries for professor and docent positions and for exam commissions in many countries.

In 2015 Barbro started her seven-year research project, with selecting and writing comments about audition arias for each voice fach. The series is called “Arias for Young Voices”, published by Gehrmans Music Publishing in Stockholm. The soprano anthology was released in August 2017 during the international ICVT-congress in Stockholm, the Mezzo/Alto book was presented in September 2020, the Tenor anthology in November 2021, and the Baritone/Bass book was finally releasesd in Oslo May 11th, 2022, completing the series.

From 2022, Barbro Marklund has been teaching from her new home in Nacka in the Stockholm region, starting a private school for advanced singers.

2024-2025 she is guest teacher at Stockholm University of Arts for Bachelor and Master opera students.

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Photo: Håkan Jacobsson

SVEN KRISTERSSON - tenor

Sven Kristersson is a singer, composer and researcher. He is a professor emeritus of singing at the Malmö Academy of Music, with a special focus on vocal chamber music, literary songs and scenic performance. His recordings include 43 Mélodies by Francis Poulenc with lyrics by Guillaume Apollinaire together with pianist Risto Kyrö, and – with pianist Olof Höjer – Wilhelm Müller's and Franz Schubert's Winterreise in his own Swedish translation. He has also translated and recorded songs by John Dowland.

His radio broadcasts include songs by Benjamin Britten and Ture Rangström – with pianists Love Derwinger, and Bengt Forsberg respectively. The majority of these recordings have their roots in artistic research, concerts and performances.

Sven Kristersson views himself not only as an academic researcher, but also as a cricical, popular activist, emphasizing the importance of both an international orientation and in-depth scrutinizing of local and Swedish traditions. He has conducted international artistic exchanges with Brazil and Palestine, Portugal and Norway, but he has also staged Swedish cultural heritage through performances of poet-composers like Birger Sjöberg and Evert Taube. The activist and educational approach is also shown in his moderating of an essayistic series of concerts in Stockholm, on commission of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Sven Kristersson has had numerous missions in Sweden and abroad as an examiner and as an expert in recruitments of teachers and in promotion matters. He is a member of Svenska Visakademien and of the Dorothy Irving Grant's commission.

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BENGT-ÅKE LUNDIN -piano

Bengt-Ake Lundin made his debut in 1989 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, to standing ovations and excellent reviews. He was appointed to the Stockholm Concert Hall's first representative of ECHO's (European Concert Hall Organization) "Rising Star", after which he was invited to give concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Birmingham Symphony Hall. He has appeared with all the major orchestras in Sweden and has given both orchestral concerts and solo recitals in the USA, Germany, England, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Egypt and China.

During the 2009/2010 season Bengt-Ake Lundin was soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Stéphane Deneve, in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Altenburg-Gera Symphony Orchestra and Niklas Willén and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. The 2010/2011 season included the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock and Niklas Willén, and appearances as soloist and accompanist at Mattei in Lulea.

As an avid chamber musician with special interest for lied accompaniment, Bengt-Ake Lundin has performed with several leading Swedish singers such as Peter Mattei, Malena Ernman and Matilda Paulsson. As Artist in Residence at Swedish Radio P2 from 1993 to 1994, he performed a number of works by contemporary Swedish composers, in many cases music composed directly for him. Bengt-Åke Lundin is represented on CD at companies like Naxos, BIS Records, Caprice Records and Phono Suecia, and has beew awarded with Grammy award.

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ANNELIE KORSFELDT - soprano

Annelie Korsfeldt is the founder and artistic director of the Edsbruk Vocal Academy, giving lied courses focusing on Swedish composers. The courses and master classes combine knowledge of repertory with scenic performance. At the final concert all participants contribute with with solo singing and in vocal ensembles. The course is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Annelie was hired as a chorister in the Radio Choir in 1993. She is also a former member of the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir. With these ensembles Annelie has been traveling around the world. She has often been engaged as a soloist and got to sing music spanning from ancient to contemporary music with several world premieres.

As a freelance singer, assignments have included Saint-Saëns's Christmas Oratorio, Fauré's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, Stravinsky Les Noces, Haydn Creation, Handel Messiah and others.

For more than 30 years, Annelie has been working as a vocal coach. She has been active on all stages; from small children to adults, in culture schools and parishes. At the moment she is working at Immanuel Music School with adult students in classical repertoire, working closely with church services where students are given the opportunity to sing. Annelie work also a lot with choirs in different churches helping them to develop their vocal work, closely to the choir conductors. Part time she is working with young singers, in other genres like pop, soul, musical and rockmusic in a municipal music school.

After graduating as a singing teacher in 1993 from the School of Music in Piteå Annelie continued her education as a vocal soloist at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. She has participated in numerous master classes with for example Felicity Palmer, Barbara Hendricks, Dalton Baldwin and Kersti Ståbi. She has great knowledge of repertoire in all voice categories and are constantly seeking new challenges. Interest in the voice and the human behind the voice is her driving force.

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MICHAEL ENGSTRÖM - piano

Michael Engström studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Concert tours have taken him all over Europe, North America and East Asia, and he has participated in several radio and television programs and recordings, including with the Swedish Radio Choir.
In the 90s he worked as a music producer at Swedish Radio P2, but has since returned to working as a pianist and accompanist.

Michael works regularly with the Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and is in frequent demand as a rehearsal pianist and coach with the major institutions in Stockholm as well as for freelance singers.

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CAMILLA KANDARE - Pilates instructor

Camilla Kandare trained as a dancer and dance teacher, specializing in historical dance forms. She graduated from the University College of Dance in Stockholm in 2001 with a degree in dance pedagogy and a specialization in Baroque Dance and has been teaching Baroque dance since then. Camilla continued her studies at the PhD program in Dance History and Theory at the University of California, Riverside, and received her PhD in 2009.
During her years in Los Angeles, Camilla was able to explore many other forms of movement and training. She is a fully certified instructor in Pilates (all levels and equipment, including Pre- and Post Natal Pilates), Yoga (Hatha and Yin), Gyrokinesis, Yamuna Body Rolling, and Garuda. Camilla loves to learn and is frequently attending courses and workshops to expand her repertoire in movement. She has taken longer courses in methods including the Franklin Method, Bones for Life, Anatomy Trains in Motion, and Qigong; and is attending continuing education workshops in Pilates, Yoga, Gyrokinesis, Yamuna Body Rolling, and Garuda in Sweden and abroad on a yearly basis. Camilla has been teaching Pilates since 2005 at venues including Stockholm Pilates Center, Sixth Street Pilates (USA), Axelsons Gymnastiska Institut, Balettakademien, Danscenter, Yogayama and InMo. Camilla's classes are characterized by a calm focus on body awareness, breathing, posture, and presence. She often works with clients coming to her with injuries or long-term pain and is passionate about helping them regain confidence and joy of movement.

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