A fascination with the printed score and the creation of musical sounds has occupied Fredrik Sixten from his earliest years. Born in 1962, Sixten later attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where he studied with Professor Sven-David Sandström. Fredrik Sixten has held several important positions within the world of Swedish church music. He was music director in Västerås and Vänersborg from 1986 to 2000, cathedral organist in Härnösand from 2001 to 2012, and finally conductor and cathedral organist at Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway, from 2013 to 2014. He is now working full time as a composer.
During the past decade Sixten’s compositional output has flourished. He has created many important large-scale and occasional works during this period, including two settings of the Passion (St Mark & St John), the Christmas Oratorio and the Requiem. A number of important works for organ solo - largescale works such as the Organ Sonata, Triptyche and Passacaglia - and popular pieces such as Toccata Festival, Tango and Hymn also appeared during these years. Beyond sacred music his full-length opera, ”The truth beyond” was premiered in Germany & Sweden in 2016, and a Concerto for 2 pianos & Orchestra was premiered in New York.
His most popular works for choir include “Alleluia”, “Ave Maris Stella”, and “Ave verum corpus” to mention just a few. A key factor in this recent surge of creativity is Sixten’s ability to work within many different forms and styles, yet remain true to his basic aesthetic instinct. Essential components of his style include an understanding of traditional historical forms, jazz influenced ideas, the work of 20th Century French masters, and an affinity with Swedish folk music. All of these elements are presented in a fresh, contemporary language, a mode of expression that appeals both to the connoisseur and the layperson.
“For a number of years I have had the good fortune to work in close collaboration with the composer Fredrik Sixten, premiering a number of his works for choir. What strikes me the most about Sixten’s choral music is the fresh and direct approach in combination with a profound sense of harmonic beauty. He seems to always be able to enhance the text by nding the most appropriate way of setting it to music. Sixten has found a distinctive personal voice by drawing on his deep understanding of both western choir and church music traditions. Moreover, his choral writing always reflects an innate understanding of the voice and how to make a choir sound its best. From a choir conductor’s standpoint, this makes working with Sixten’s music even more rewarding. My hope is that the collection of pieces on this CD, reflecting various aspects of Sixten’s choral music, will have an immediate appeal to listeners and will spark an interest in following the future output of Fredrik Sixten.”
Ragnar Bohlin, Chorus Director - San Francisco Symphony
