Performers & composers

Ingvar Karkoff

Ingvar Karkoff was born in Stockholm on the 14th of september 1958. He studied orchestration with Professor Gunnar Johansson and counterpoint, privately. He then went on to study composition with Gunnar Bucht at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, 1978-1982, and electro acoustic music with Pär Lindgren. Karkoff has also received lessons from visiting guest Professor Brian Ferneyhough.

Karkoff taught aural training at the Edsberg Institute of Music (the school of chamber music and soloists) between 1985 and 1987, and orchestration and theory at the Stockholm Institute of Music Pedagogics (SMI). He has also taught instrumentation and composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm between 1986 and 1992. Apart from this he has been program host in the radio magazine for contemporary music, New Hour at the Swedish Radio.

His music has been performed in Finland, Norway, in the Baltic countries, Russia, former Yougoslavia, Hungary, Austria, France, Portugal, Italy,Spain, Israel and Japan. His orchestral works have been performed by most major orchestras in Sweden; the orchestral piece Fenix was commissioned and world-premiered in Stockholm 1993, by Gennady Rozhdestvensky and the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

The music of Ingvar Karkoff has been broadcasted worldwide. He has represented Sweden both at the Young Nordic Music festivals and at The Nordic Music Days, St Petersburg Contemporary Music Festival. He has been awarded The Rosenborg prize, The Swedish Royal Music Academy's travel gran, The City of Stockholm's Cultural Prize, The small Christ Johnson Prize 2000.

He has composed three symphonys and is currently working on his second trumpet concerto.

Ouverture (12')

Premiered  24 november 2005  in Linköping, Kongresshallen with Östgöta Blåsarsymfoniker.

Ouverture (2003) was composed directly for Östgöta blåsarsymfoniker and this orchestra’s special instrumentation. Unlike common wind bands there is only one flute and one oboe here for example. 

The piece is not an ordinary overture but more like a suite in four parts. Small character pieces that are linked into each other.

The title Ouverture indicates that it is an opening piece with short duration, about 12 minutes long. A piece that can start a concert or the second part of a concert. I have used the french spelling Ouverture simply because it is more beautiful than in other languages.