Rolf Wallin is one of Scandinavia’s leading contemporary composers, widely performed and commissioned internationally. His musical background spans from jazz, avantgarde rock and early music to traditional classical training, and this versatility is reflected in an exceptionally many-faceted list of compositions. Wallin’s output covers a wide range of expressions and techniques: from strictly absolute music to music theatre and installations, from elaborate computer-aided compositions for the concert hall to strongly intuitive music for the stage.

Stonewave, one of his most popular and frequently performed pieces, is made purely from fractal mathematics, but far from being abstract, Wallin’s music comes across as very physical and organic. And it often connects directly with the world around him, most notably in works such as Act (2004), a celebration of the power of cooperation, Strange News (2007), which tells the story of the rehabilitation of child soldiers, and Large Bird Mask (2019), posing important ethical and philosophical questions around the accelerating extinction of birds. His opera Elysium (2016) brings together topics such as human rights, revolution, salvation and transhumanism.