The Icelandic-German composer Steingrímur Rohloff is one of the most prominent young Scandinavian composers, and his works have been performed in more than 25 countries worldwide. He studied in Cologne and in Paris at the Conservatoire Superieur and the IRCAM with Gérard Grisey and Marc-André Dalbavie among others; this French school of crystalline orchestral music has influenced Rohloff profoundly. Among Rohloff’s many awards is the prestigious B.A. Zimmermann Award, which he won whilst living in Germany. The jury described his music as: “of an original fantasy ... exciting melodic creativity... colourful harmonies…”
His body of work spans orchestral and chamber music as well as electro-acoustic compositions. Over the past 15 years, Rohloff has also created a number of stage works. His first piece of music theatre was the children’s opera The Story of a Mother, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, which received Denmark’s most prestigious performing arts award, the Reumert. Other stage works include Motion Demon (in collaboration with Icelandic writer Sjón), Babel (nominated for two Reumert awards), and Lysistrate.
Rohloff maintains a regular collaboration with the world-renowned Ensemble Modern and has participated in prominent festivals such as Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Klangspuren, Aldeburgh Festival of Music, CRESC... Biennale für aktuelle Musik (Frankfurt), Triennale Köln, among others.
More recently, Rohloff has focused increasingly on orchestral music, composing large-scale symphonic concertos for internationally acclaimed soloists such as Stefan Dohr, Lawrence Power, Marianna Shirinyan, Gábor Tarkövi, Jesper Busk Sørensen, Jens Bjørn-Larsen, Rafaell Altino, and others.
Download press photo of Steingrímur Rohloff (Photo: Niklas Ottander)
