Sven-David Sandström

Sven-David Sandström (b. October 30, 1942, Motala) is a Swedish composer best known for operatic and choral works, as well as a symphony. He teaches composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden and at Indiana University Bloomington's Jacobs School of Music. At Indiana University he is known for casually sauntering across the stage rather than taking a bow after one of his works is performed.

Among his works are "The High Mass", a Requiem, concerti for flute, guitar, piano, and cello, and the 2001 opera, "" on a libretto and originally directed by Claes Fellbom, who commissioned the work for the centennial of the Swedish opera company. Fellbom translated the opera into English and directed its first production in that language at Indiana University in February 2003.

His work draws on ideas from modernist music, minimalist music, jazz, and popular music. Indeed, in Act II of "Jeppe", the chorus sings the line "O Lord, Won't You Buy Me a Mercedes-Benz" in harmony based on the original Janis Joplin melody. He has recently become interested in Tejano music and has been working with incorporating that idiom into his work much as composers of Romantic music collected folk music and incorporated it into their works.

He also has written film scores, for "Äntligen!" (1984), and the television films, "Facklorna" (1991), Lars Norén's "Ett Sorts Hades" (1996), Lars Rudolfsson's "Staden" (1998), and "Gertrud" (1999).

External links

* [http://akas.imdb.com/name/nm0762404/ Sven-David Sandström] on IMDb