Victoria Borisova-Ollas, tonsättare

Victoria Borisova-Ollas was born 1969 in Russia but has lived in Sweden for many years. She first achieved international recognition when her work Wings of the Wind won second prize in the Masterprize competition in 1998: the critics were ecstatic, describing her work as a piece of "sparkling sonic poetry." She uses an original and innovative vocabulary of sounds to create acoustic spaces of great beauty and intensity, capable of captivating both sophisticated ears and those of less experienced but curious.

Victoria began her musical studies at early age. After graduating first from the Central School of Music in Moscow and then from the famous Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, she continued her composition studies in Sweden at Malmö Music College and in England at the Royal College of Music in London.

Her music is widely performed all around the world by orchestras such as London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Radio Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra (Tokyo), Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Duesseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, Kammarensemblen and by other orchestras, ensembles and performers. Her works have been broadcasted by Swedish Television, BBC Radio 3, Swedish Radio P2 and by other broadcasting companies in Finland, Russia, USA, Slovenia, Germany, Canada etc. Some of the pieces have been released on CD`s ( EMI, Metronome Recordings in UK, Phono Suecia, Media Artes/Chamber Sound, Musica Rediviva in Sweden).

Her clarinet concerto Golden Dances of the Pharaohs was awarded two times, first from The Swedish Music Publishers Association's Annual Music Publisher's Award 2010 and next year, 2011 from The Royal Swedish Academy of Music/ Christ Johnson Prize. She also recieved The society of Swedish Composers Award/ Hilding Rosenbergs Prize 2009; The Swedish Music Publishers Association's Annual Music Publisher's Award 2008 for The Ground Beneath Her Feet, The Royal Academy of Music/ Minor Christ Johnson Prize for Symphony no.1 "the Triumph of Heaven" 2005.

Since 2008 Victoria Borisova-Ollas is member of the The Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Most of her works are published by Universal Edition, Vienna. Other publishers are Novello&Co (Music Sales Classical), Gehrmans Musikförlag, ABRSM Publishing, Svensk Musik/Swedish Music Information Center.

David Saulesco

Many who were born in the 1980s grew up with a video game console or computer close at hand. Seven years old, David Saulesco sat with his Game Boy at his parents’ piano and tried to play along with the music coming out of the machine’s tiny, tinny speaker. The music stirred a desire for something more than just beating a level or an enemy and 16 years old he wrote his first original game soundtrack. Today he is a flexible and multitalented musician who moves effortlessly between genres and contexts: from soundtracks to symphonies, from pop songs to choral music, and beyond.

David’s works as a composer and arranger have been featured in Europe and North America. He has been commissioned by world-famous artists such as Perpetuum Jazzile and Video Game Orchestra and worked with Swedish ensembles like Nordic Chamber Orchestra, NorrlandsOperan Symphony Orchestra and Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra. His critically acclaimed Christmas Oratorio is published by Gehrmans Musikförlag where you can also find more music, as well as at Bo Ejeby Förlag. He has also published several albums and has been featured on compilations like SUCCESSOR by the Materia Collective and several editions of the Songs for the Cure annual cancer research fundraiser project. The commissioned piece Tolerance for chamber orchestra was broadcast by the Swedish Radio P2 in 2016.

Besides composing, David is also an accomplished singer. He has performed at Stockholm’s 750th Anniversary, with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and as a soloist in major choral works such as A God Disguised (Larsson), Oratorio de Noël (Saint-Saëns), Requiem (Mozart) and Liebeslieder (Brahms). David also writes regularly for the Swedish Radio and has produced content for the Swedish Radio P2. He has been engaged as a speaker or emcee by Berwaldhallen, Studio Acusticum, Stockholm Concert Hall and Dans i Nord among others. He teaches composition privately and at the Kapellsberg School of Music in Härnösand.