Emil Råberg
1985

I grew up in Luleå, northern Sweden. You could say I come from a family of musicians, since both my parents are music teachers and we have a history of military musicians in our family. I've always been interested in "classical" music, but was surrounded primarily by other forms of music while growing up (dad played rock, mum sang and my brother liked pop), which likely gave me broad musical underpinnings. While in upper-secondary school, some friends and I played in a band that combined an eclectic mix of backgrounds: jazz, progressive rock, musicals and classical music.

The fact that I’ve ended up being involved with quite a bit of choir music perhaps isn't so strange, considering that I've sung in choirs since I was small and my mother is a choirmaster. Still, it wasn’t until I began studying at the college of music that I really got into choir music in earnest, since the college's chamber choir, led by Prof. Erik Westberg, generated a sound that I'd never heard before. It wasn’t long before I too joined the choir as a vocalist (base 2) and since then choir has been my main instrument.

What motivates me in my work? The belief that making music should be fun and challenging; music that sounds good and is innovative. You have to find the right level for each context. Naturally, each piece will be different depending on which ensemble commissions it and what circumstances you're working under, and that's when you have to have a sense of where the right level is. It's largely a matter of limiting yourself. External factors such as practice time and forums for concerts also have a bearing on the artistic process, as these are factors that help define the framework for the piece. It has to be a challenge, but it also has to be good. Was it Stravinsky who said that constraints force us to be creative?

Taking new approaches is interesting, but I always try to link back to tradition in some way, so as to ground the innovative among the ensemble and, thereby, ultimately among the audience, too.

Ensembles I have worked with as a composer:

Sångkraft Chamber Choir
Lux Arcticas (2014)

Nya Motettkören (at Luleå Cathedral), Människans dagar är som gräset (2013)

Uppsala Vocal Ensemble,
Approximately Four Improvisations, for choir and saxophone (2013)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW9qYlw2snk

The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble, Ouverture (2012)

Dúbito, for grand choir and accordion (2010)

Norrbotten NEO, Baddabah Emerges, for chamber ensemble (2009)

Chamber Choir of the School of Music in Piteå, The Tyger (2009)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmgoz2RQFPg
(Stockholm's Music Gymnasium, Chamber Choir)