Gary Graden

was born in the USA and studied at Clark University, the Hartt School of Music, the Aspen Summer Music Festival, and with Eric Ericson at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. Gary Graden is a former member and tenor soloist with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, as well as the vocal ensemble Lamentabile Consort.

Gary Graden is presently Director of Music in the Stockholm Cathedral (Storkyrkan) and S:t Jacob´s church. He has also been on the faculty of  Stockholm´s Musikgymnasium where founded and conducted the Stockholm Musikgymnasium´s Chamber Choir. With this choir and the S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir he has won grand prizes and first prizes in several of Europe´s most prestigious competitions, including the European Grand Prize.

He has also participated in a wide array of national and international festivals including the Tolosa Festival in Spain, the IFCM World Symposia in Minneapolis and Kyoto, Sagra Musicale Umbra in Italy, Debrecen Festival in Hungary,  Koorbiennale in Holland, the ACDA National Convention in USA, and is currently artistic director of the international choral festival La Fabbrica del Canto in Legnano.

Graden has commissioned and premiered more than 90 works by such composers as Sven-David Sandström, Anders Hillborg, Nana Forte, Thomas Jennefelt, Steve Dobrogosz,  Bo Hansson, Agneta Sköld, Gabriel Jackson, Anders Paulsson,  Javier Busto, Vytautas Miškinis, Urmas Sisask, Georg Riedel, Carl Unander-Scharin, Stephen Leek, Damijan Močnik, Corrado Margutti, Giovanni Bonato, and Michael Waldenby.

He has conducted several orchestras including the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra. the Stockholm Royal Opera Orchestra, Stockholm Rebaroque, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Philidor, France, and Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato as well as Orchestra da Camera Perugia in Italy. Above and beyond his specialisation in the performance of contemporary music, he has performed such larger works as Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in c-minor, Bach’s passions and Mass in b-minor, as well as the Requiems of Brahms, Duruflé, Fauré and Michael Haydn.

Foto: Adriano Scognamillo

Foto: Adriano Scognamillo

With his trio WÅG (Wager Åstrand Graden) he is developing and exploring improvisational music for voice and instruments. With his S:t Jacob/Stockholm Cathedral Vocal Ensemble he performs repertoire from all periods for solo and small ensemble.  Graden is in demand as conductor, teacher and adjudicator throughout the world. He has conducted many international choirs including the Swedish Radio Choir,  the choirs of Radio France, the Hungarian Radio Choir, Kodaly Choir Debrecen, Slovenian Philharmonic Choir, Orpheus Vokalensemble-Ochsenhausen, Jauna Muzika-Vilnius, Pro Coro Canada, the Formosa Singers-Taipei, the Singapore Ensemble Singers, the IFCM World Youth Choir (Slovenia), the ACDA Collegiate Honors Choir, and Coro Giovanile Italiano among others.

His work as conductor and singer is documented on many radio and some 30 CD recordings (BIS, Carus, Proprius, Caprice, Phono Svecia, Gehrmans, nosag, Camerata Tokyo, a.o.), including recordings of the Bach Motets and St. John Passion, and Handel’s Messiah. Graden is the recipient of the “Johannes Norrby medal” for his contribution to Swedish choral music, and was elected Sweden’s “Choral Conductor of the Year” in 2005. In 2009 he was awarded the Guidoneum Award from the Fondazione Guido D’Arezzo in Italy, in 2015 the S:ta Cecilia Prize awarded by the Stockholm diocese of the Swedish Church, and in 2020 the medal Litteris et Artibus awarded by the King of Sweden.

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