My singing journey
When applying to music school at 11, I was told by the singing teacher that she wouldn’t take on guys that hadn’t gone through their voice change. Funnily enough, that wouldn’t happen for another 5 years and, without anything to encourage it, my interest in singing was slowly lost.
Thankfully, in my second year of medical school at the age of 21, I found the European Medical Students’ Orchestra and Choir (EMSOC). Being a trained clarinetist, I applied to play in the orchestra but was rejected because they already had the needed amount of clarinetists. I was offered a place in the choir’s tenor section, which I accepted after some consideration. Little did I know, that when I arrived in Prague a Thursday afternoon in July 2016 that my life was about to change. Not only did I find myself a European family of dear friends, but my passion for singing was rekindled.
It would take another year for me to apply to a regular choir in Uppsala, where I studied. This happened after my second EMSOC. After another amazing event, this time in Switzerland, I couldn’t see myself not singing for the upcoming year. I joined the student choir of Värmland’s nation, conducted by Hanna Ohlson Nordh, in 2017. It was (is) one of the more esteemed student choirs in town, and in joining it I found myself embracing a part of myself that I until then hadn’t even realised existed. At the same time, I found myself dragged, by chance, into the newly founded Irish Doctors’ Choir (IDC), conducted by Brian McKay. They were looking for singers for a concert in Belfast, where they would perform Mahlers second symphony together with the European Doctors’ Orchestra (EDO), and reached out to the EMSOC organisation. I applied, stating that I was a very novice singer but at the same time underlining my passion for the art. I was accepted and through this organisation I have found my inner Irishman and another battery of close friends.
After two years of singing in good choirs, I felt the need for a challenge and set my eyes on one of the best male choirs in the country, if not the world: Orphei Drängar, conducted by professor Cecilia Rydinger. Unfortunately, my voice was untrained (figure that!) and I was not accepted at the first two attempts. After my second attempt, the audition committee recommended that I take some vocal lessons which started yet another journey for me: one as a soloist.
With this background, I found myself in the living room of opera soprano and singing teacher Karin Ingebäck an afternoon in February 2019. After half a year of vocal training I was finally accepted, on my third attempt, into the esteemed Orphei Drängar. I now sing as a first tenor there as well as perform as a tenor soloist, mostly during church masses or funerals. Not forgetting my roots, I still attend both the EMSOC annual meetings and regular IDC meetings. Still, I missed singing in a mixed choir regularly, which led me to apply to Uppsala Vokalensemble, conducted by Sofia Ågren, where I sing since autumn 2020.
I look forward to many more years of singing and to those of you who love the art but don’t know whether you can make it: keep trying and keep finding ways forward. I have seen and heard people with next to no singing ability develop a wonderful voice with persistent training even at an old age. My own story proves the same. Down below, you can find some examples of my repertoire and if you would like me to sing at an event, don’t hesitate to contact me!