Erik Westberg Vokalensemble & Erik Westberg
Biography Erik Westberg Vokalensemble & Erik Westberg
The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble
was formed in 1993 and consists of 16–20 singers. The members of the Ensemble work as soloists, church musicians and music teachers and come from northern Sweden and Finland. The Ensemble has commissioned and premiered about 60 works by composers such as Gunnar Eriksson, Paula af Malmborg Ward, Tebogo Monnakgotla, Jan Sandström, Sven-David Sandström, Carl Unander Scharin and Arvo Pärt.
The Swedish Broadcasting Corporation has, in close collaboration with the Ensemble, sent several live performances, both in Sweden and throughout Europe.
In 1996, the Ensemble’s first CD Musica Sacra was released on the Opus3 label. The Ensemble’s first collaboration with Studio Acusticum Records in 2010 resulted in the triple album Pater Caelestis – Terra Mater – Vox Humana. Since then, the Ensemble has had a good 15 CDs and phonograms issued by the record companies Opus3, Studio Acusticum Records and Naxos. Vita Nuova, featuring Swedish choral music, was rated ”world class” by the music magazine OPUS. In 2018, the album Amor Vita Mors was released on streaming services, accompanied by a 60-page physical book with programme notes. Recent releases include the innovative cooperation with violist Kim Hellgren and composers Johannes Pollak and Staffan Storm (Voices of the Viola, 2019); Bach’s Mass in B Minor (released on vinyl in 2020); the world première recording of Swedish romantic composer Andreas Hallén’s Missa Solemnis from 1921 (2021); SÁPMI (2022) in collaboration with Sami artist such as Frode Fjellheim and Katarina Barruk; and The Cloud of Unknowing.
The Ensemble has undertaken over 30 international tours to Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania. A particularly notable engagement was the project Choral Singing for Peace and Justice with a tour to Tonga and Samoa at the turn of the millennium, seen by more than 500 million TV viewers worldwide.
Erik Westberg
(b. 1956) studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm 1976–1987.
He has been the leader of numerous choirs, including the YMCA Choir in Stockholm and the Oslo Philharmonic Choir, and he has also been guest conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir. Internationally, Erik Westberg has been engaged as guest conductor for Pro Coro Canada, Coro Nacional de España, Coro Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and Jauna Muzika, Lithuania. He has also been Artist-in-Residence at Wollongong University, Australia. Since 2018 he is artistic director of the Swedish Youth Choir (Sveriges Ungdomskör).
His audio catalogue includes more than twenty recordings on the record labels Studio Acusticum Records, Opus3, Naxos, and Caprice, several of which have received excellent reviews. Erik Westberg received the Johannes Norrby-Medallion in 1993 and the Culture Prize of the Year from the newspaper Norrländska Socialdemokraten in 1997. In 1999 he was elected Choral Conductor of the Year by KÖRSAM (The Federation of Swedish Choir Associations) and received the Culture Prize of the Year from the Municipality of Piteå in 2002.
In 2006 Erik Westberg was presented with His Majesty the King’s Medal of the Eighth Size with the ribbon of the Order of the Seraphim “for significant achievements in Swedish Musical Life”. In 2016 he was awarded the Grant of Honour and Merit of Norrbotten County.
He has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since 2008 and Professor of Choral Conducting and Choral Singing at the School of Music at Luleå University of Technology since 2003.
