Rolf Wallin
Norwegian composer

Rolf Wallin

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Norwegian composer
Gender:
Male
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Birth:
7 September 1957
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Rolf Wallin (born 7 September 1957 in Oslo) is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist.
Rolf Wallin has established a reputation as one of the leading Scandinavian composers of his generation. He studied in Oslo with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen and later at the University of California where his teachers included Roger Reynolds and Vinko Globokar. Wallin’s music combines an intuitive freedom with a rigorous mathematical approach, such as use of fractal algorithms to construct melody and harmony, resulting in a music that often hints at the influence of Ligeti, Xenakis and Berio.
In 1998 he was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize.

Career highlights

  • 1976-82 - studied at the Norwegian State Academy of Music.
  • 1987 - Norwegian Society of Composers Award for …though what made it has gone.
  • 1991 - developed ‘crystal chord’ technique for generation of harmony in ning.
  • 1998 - awarded Nordic Council Music Prize for Clarinet Concerto.
  • 2000 - portrait CD Boyl released on Aurora label; wins Norwegian Spelemann prisen.
  • 2001 - featured composer at Stockholm International Composer Festival.

Key works

  • …though what made it has gone (1987; mezzo-soprano, piano)
  • Stonewave (1990; percussion)
  • Boyl (1995; chamber ensemble)
  • Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1996)
  • Ground (1996; cello, strings)
  • Act (2004; orchestra)
  • Strange News (2007; actor; orchestra; video-projection; electronics)

Selected recordings