Håkan Rosengren

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Håkan Rosengren has performed as soloist, and in recital and chamber music throughout Europe, the U.S., and in Brazil, Israel, China, and South Korea. He has collaborated with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Järvi, Christopher Hogwood, JoAnn Falletta, Grant Llewellyn, Sakari Oramo, Osmo Vänskä, and Eiji Oue, among others, and has performed as guest soloist with orchestras including Lausanne Chamber, Prague Philharmonic, Lisbon Metropolitan, Poznan Philharmonic, Los Angeles Mozart, Asheville Symphony, New York Chamber Players, Israeli Chamber, and with every major orchestra in Scandinavia.

Music festivals around the world where Rosengren has performed include Santa Fe, La Jolla, Ojai, Austin Chamber Music Center, Moritzburg (Dresden), Taegu and Jeju Island (S. Korea), Haifa (Israel), and Warsaw Autumn. In 2003 he was a member of the Jury for the Munich ARD International Clarinet Competition.

Rosengren recorded solo and chamber music for CD Accord, Caprice, Musica Sveciae, Nytorp, and SMS Classical. His Sony Classical recording of Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto with Esa-Pekka Salonen was hailed by Fanfare Magazine as the “most sensitive, wide-ranging account of the concerto ever recorded.”

Rosengren’s repertoire includes all the traditional and contemporary works for clarinet; he has performed Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time more than 50 times in Europe and the U.S., recording the work both for Caprice and for CD Accord, the latter nominated for the Polish Grammy. A number of composers have dedicated works to him, including Frank Ticheli, whose clarinet concerto Rosengren premiered with the Lithuanian National Symphony and with the Dallas Winds in Dallas Meyerson Symphony Hall and for the Texas Music Educators Association convention; he has since performed Ticheli’s concerto with various American university bands including for its Chinese premiere in Shanghai and with Orchestra Riga.

Rosengren earned degrees from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Royal Flemish Conservatory in Belgium (Walter Boeykens), and University of California (Mitchell Lurie) with support from the Fulbright Commission and the Scandinavia America Foundation. First Prizes include UNESCO’s International Performer Competition, Los Angeles Arts Council Competition, and Concert Artists Guild International New York Competition; he was selected for a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and for the Nordic Soloist Biennial.