Biography
Having just finished his diploma studies in composition, Jörgen Dafgård got his breakthrough in 2000 when he won a composition contest sponsored by the Swedish Radio and the Berwald Hall with his contribution Veils for orchestra, which since then has been performed at a dozen occasions. Among more than a thousand contributions Veils later reached the top ten in the big international Masterprize competition. Then and at other times Veils has also reached a large international radio audience.
In 2013 Jörgen Dafgård was Composer of Spring at the Berwald Hall, where five of his works for orchestra were performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The culmination was a portrait concert with three longer works by Dafgård, including the premiere of the new clarinet concerto Caprism with Andreas Sundén as soloist.
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In January 2017 Jörgen Dafgård's soprano saxophone concerto Abrasax, which had been co-commissioned by the sinfoniettas of Jönköping and Västerås, made a big succes at the premiere in Jönköping with the internationally celebrated soloist Anders Paulsson and the Jönköping Sinfonietta and one year later the work got a highly acclaimed performance with the Västerås Sinfonietta. Thereafter the violin concerto Eclipse, commissioned by Camerata Nordica and the Chamber Orchestra O/Modernt for the soloist Hugo Ticciati and with premiere in October 2018, has been completed.
Dafgård has cooperated extensively with a number of orchestras. The Nordic Chamber Orchestra has among other works premiered his Sinfonia No 1 and the sinfonietta Esprit. After having performed Veils and Mosaïque Vibrante by Dafgård, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in 2011 premiered his Through Fire and Water for large orchestra, which was a big success with headlines like "New Smash Hit for Jörgen Dafgård". In February 2019 Malmö Symphony Orchestra will premiere Dafgård's Tableau Vivant for violin and orchestra with Johan Dalene as soloist.
Dafgård's clarinet quintet Whims and Wizardry, which in 2012 was premiered by ARD prize winner Sebastian Manz and a well-reputed international string quartet, was in Autumn 2013 nominated for the Swedish Music Publishers' Award as the best chamber work. At the same time Dafgård's Mahler Revisited, performed by the Zagros Ensemble, also made success at the Nordic Music Days in Helsinki, followed by a performance at the Pärnu Music Festival in Summer 2014 which got a lot of attention.
In Spring 2014 Dafgård's five movement work Moving and Touching was premiered by the saxophone quartet Rollin' Phones and in Autumn 2014 the cantata Ljuvlig är Din boning (Lovely Is Your Dwelling) had a highly acclaimed premiere at the centennial celebration of the town and church of Hässleholm. In Autumn 2017 Duo Gelland toured in the USA with Dafgårds newly written Four Character Pieces.
A large part of Dafgård's production is published by Gehrmans.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.