Mikael Carlsson: Composer

Mikael devotes most of his composition activities to choral music. Several of his pieces have been published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Florida, USA, who described his Agnus Dei with words as ”exquisite beauty” and ”great excitement”. Selections of his à cappella works were recorded by the Haga Motettkör in Göteborg, Sweden, directed by award-winning conductor Ulrike Heider, and released under the title Rainbow Suite: The Choral Music of Mikael Carlsson.

Mikael is a self-tought composer whose only formal musical training consists of six years of piano studies in his youth. He was brought up in a musical family – his father being a jazz organ player and several family members on his mother’s side being musicians – but decided to pursue a career as a news journalist in high school. He spent the first 15 years of his professional life as a reporter, editor and ultimately editor-in-chief at various newspapers, including Metro.

In 2005, he decided to switch gears and devote his life to music, writing original score music for a number of Swedish television shows, notably the Scandianavian version of hit series Top Model. He has composed library music for British company Cinephonix who also represents Mikael for film and television work in the UK.

In 2006, Mikael discovered the passion of singing, becoming a member of a chamber choir in Gothenburg. This is where he met conductor Ulrike Heider, who encouraged Mikael’s compositional activities. Since then, Mikael has composed some twenty original pieces for choir, many of them premiered in concert or in service at Hagakyrkan, Göteborg, by Haga Motettkör.

Mikael Carlsson: Soundtrack Producer

Since the launch of his company, MovieScore Media, in 2005, Mikael has produced over 150 soundtrack albums featuring original score music from films and television series. Among the composers he has worked with are Academy Award-winner Dario Marianelli (I Capture the Castle, Beyond the Gates, Happy Now), Patrick Doyle (Man to Man), Ilan Eshkeri (Centurion), Johan Söderqvist (Let the Right One In) and Rob Lane (Merlin).

Recently, an album he produced for composer Ryan Shore and horror soundtrack label Screamworks Records, The Shrine, was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in the category “Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media”.

The majority of the soundtrack albums Mikael produces are released on his own labels, MovieScore Media and Screamworks Records, but he is also hired frequently by other companies to produce and coordinate soundtrack albums.

Mikael has a clear vision of the “secrets” behind soundtrack album production and how music originally written for visual media can be reshaped and refined into a piece of art on its own in album form.

Mikael Carlsson: Concert Producer and Consultant

Recently hired by the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra to co-produce an 80th Birthday Tribute to John Williams, Mikael Carlsson’s knowledge of the classic as well as contemporary film music repertoire combined with his refined artistic sensibilities and extensive network within the film music industry has made him an in-demand producer and programming consultant for various film music concerts throughout Europe. Among his clients are the Film Symphony in Valencia, Spain (including a tribute to the late John Barry), the International Film Music Festival in Ùbeda, Spain (2011 closing concert The Choral Adventure) and Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Sweden (a concert devoted to Swedish film music). Upcoming events include a contemporary film music programme for the upcoming International Film Music Festival in Spain.

Mikael Carlsson has also produced several concerts for his choirs, the Haga Motettkör (directed by Ulrike Heider) and Johannebergs Vokalensemble (directed by Jan K. Delemark). Mikael is an enthusiastic supporter of contemporary choral music and has brought new music by composers such as Paul Mealor, James MacMillan, Pawel Lukaszewski, Joshua Shank, Benjamin Wallfisch, Richard Allain, David Buckley and Philippe Mazé to Swedish audiences for the first time. Among the projects he has produced are Pärt 75 (a tribute to Arvo Pärt on his 75th birthday), From Tallis to Tavener (an exposé on English choral music) and The Passion (a concert programme featuring new choral music written on the subject of the passion of the Christ).