Jesper Nordin – inventor of Gestrument

Jesper Nordin is the inventor of Gestrument and has used this tool to compose music for ensembles and orchestras since 2007. His included presets come from his ongoing orchestral trilogy composed for the three major Swedish Symphony Orchestras. The pieces are called Åkallan (conjuration in Swedish) – premiered by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano, Ärr (scar in Swedish) – premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Baldur Brönnimann and finally for 2015, the third piece Öde (deserted or destiny in Swedish) – commissioned by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. The pieces are influenced by Swedish music and voices of different styles. Åkallan is influenced by the Swedish traditional singing technique Kulning, with all of its quarter tones. Ärr is influenced by the song Bleed by Meshuggah. Finally Öde will be influenced by the major Swedish classical singers, from Jussi Björling & Birgit Nilsson to our leading world stars of today.

Jesper Nordin (born in 1971 in Stockholm) is a leading Swedish composer, and one who has garnered considerable international acclaim in recent years. His music, with its powerful emotional impact and traces of traditional Swedish folk music, rock music and improvised music, is broadcast and performed throughout the world. His music is performed by conductors like Kent Nagano, Daniel Harding and Pierre-André Valade. His orchestral pieces have been played by such orchestras as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Swedish and Finnish radio orchestras. He is also included in the repertoires of several of the world’s foremost contemporary music ensembles, amongst them Ensemble Itineraire, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain and The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He was composer-in-residence for Swedish Radio’s serious music station (P2) between 2004 and 2006.

His music has been performed at numerous festivals, including ISCM, Gaudeamus, Musiques en Scène, Ultima, Stockholm New Music, Tokyo Summer Music Festival and Archipel. In 2010 he received the Grand Christ Johnson Prize for being “a sound magician, who explores and expands the acoustic space with originality and an uncompromising curiosity” (Royal Swedish Academy of Music). He has also been awarded the Lesser Christ Johnson Prize and received a recommendation at UNESCO’s Rostrum as well as several international prizes for the piece “calm like a bomb”.

Nordin studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Pär Lindgren, Bent Sørensen and William Brunson, before taking further studies at IRCAM with Philippe Leroux and others. He subsequently was invited to be a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, where he studied with Brian Ferneyhough and worked in the CCRMA studio. His music is published by Edition Peters, Frankfurt. Read more at www.jespernordin.com