Photo: Johan Bergmark
Nyhet -
Matthew Peterson is the new Composer in Residence with Dalasinfoniettan.
Starting in the fall of 2024, the composer Matthew Peterson is Composer in Residence with Dalasinfoniettan.
Matthew Peterson, born in 1984 in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is a multifaceted and bold composer who since 2018 has lived in Smedjebacken, Dalarna. Peterson moves between daring contemporary operas, colorful orchestral works, virtuosic solo pieces, and innovative choral works. His music seethes with life and encompasses seriousness, humour, raw power, tenderness and will - the grand as well as the delicate and intimate.
"Matthew Peterson has the ability to create winding soundscapes that are so detailed that the imagination knows no bounds. Rhythmically repetitive patterns are combined with beautiful melodies into a whole that, like a saga, takes the imagination on an adventure that only you, the listener, know. "
- David Lundblad, Director, Musik i Dalarna
Peterson’s residency with Dalasinfoniettan includes the performance of two orchestral works per season and at least three world premieres, with performances of at least nine of Peterson's outstanding works spread over two seasons. The assignment, which extends to spring 2026, culminates with the premiere of a large-scale newly written work for the Radiokören and Dalasinfoniettan. The upcoming 2024/2025 season opens with the newly commissioned work Vagabond, which Peterson himself describes as his most personal orchestral work to date.
"The title came to me like a flash - I was composing a rhythmically driving, dangerous kind of music. It was during the course of composing that I noticed that the piece was partly about my own journey in life and music"
- Matthew Peterson on Vagabond
Peterson describes the assignment for Dalasinfonietta as his most significant to date and has already started working with and getting to know both the musicians in Dalasinfonietta and the administrative staff at Musik i Dalarna. In Peterson's own words:
"It is a time of renewal for the orchestra, with a new leader, a new chief conductor, some new musicians, and a new composer in residence. It was important to everyone that the composer in residence position did not just consist of a couple commissions and some bowing at concerts. We have instead, a chance for an exchange, a relationship: composer, orchestra, management and audience. That's why we have collaborated during the composition process, in the program group around the planning of concerts, and with communication and marketing. Everything to give our audience a strong musical experience, relevant, and meaningful. Outside the concert hall, I look forward to opportunities to meet people, talk about music, be active with the area's young musicians and be an ambassador for music in the region."
When asked what kind of image he has of Dalasinfonietta and the upcoming season's program, he answers:
"..an ensemble with a strong personality, excellent musicianship, and a big heart. I am proud to contribute to this year's program with brand new music composed here at home in Dalarna. Experiencing my music does not require any prior knowledge or familiarity - just let the music transport you to new landscapes of sound and experience."
Peterson had his big breakthrough in 2014 when he was awarded both the ASCAP Rudolph Nissim Prize for best orchestral work and also won both the jury's and the audience's prize in the Uppsala composer competition for the chamber music work And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. In the same year, he was awarded the Fort Worth Frontiers Award for New Opera for his true-crime opera Voir Dire. Since then, Peterson has quickly become one of Sweden's most acclaimed composers. He was awarded the Music Publishers' Prize 2023 for the choral piece An Inner Sky, Carin Malmlöf-Forssling's Composer's Prize 2023 from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, Sven-David Sandström Choral Composition Award 2022 and "Classical of the Year" at the Dalecarlia Music Awards 2021.
Matthew Peterson's music has been commissioned and performed by leading ensembles worldwide, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera at Kennedy Center, Radiokören, Eric Ericson's Kammarkor and Stockholm Saxophone Quartet.
Recordings of Peterson's music have been released on European Gramophone, RedHouse, Naxos and Footprint, and are available on several streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube and Soundcloud.
The entire program for Dalasinfonietta's upcoming season will be released in connection with the outdoor concert Dalasinfonietta in the green in Leksand on August 17.
