Swedish composer named as winner of annual competition

Ilian Lundberg is the winner of The Summer Singers’ fourth annual Young Composers Competition. His work, The Lord is Risen, will be premiered as part of The Summer Singers’ 23rd season this July.

The Summer Singers’ young composers initiative aims to promote the music of young composers, helping them find their first or second performance of a work. The composer receives a $500 prize, three concert performances of the piece and a professional recording. Composers must be 25 years of age or younger at the time of submission.

Lundberg, who is 24, lives in Sweden and has studied composition and music theory at the Junior Academy in Stockholm; Malmö Academy of Music; and the Nadia Boulanger institute in Paris.

“I feel honored, and it is an amazing and wonderful opportunity for me as a young Swedish composer to win this award,” Lundberg said. “It means a lot to me to have my music performed by such a great choir and it also gives me confidence as a composer.”

The Summer Singers will give The Lord is Risen its first performance later this month. Lundberg wrote the text as well, referring to the piece as “a musical creed for every day of the year: ‘today is the day of light, today is the day of hope.’ ”

“It is easy to see where The Lord is Risen draws inspiration from modern choral composers such as Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen,” said Dr. Russell Adrian, artistic director of The Summer Singers. “But in addition, the piece pays homage to the renaissance era. Ilian starts the piece with a contemplative and somber mood, but resolves with a tone of gratitude and hope.”

Lundberg has worked with the ensemble via Skype, even though the seven-hour time difference means that most TSS rehearsals take place between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Stockholm time.

The Summer Singers will open their 23rd season with a concert Saturday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s Chapel on the campus of the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. All TSS concerts are free and open to the public. More information can be found at summersingers.org.

Winners of The Summer Singers’ Young Composers Competition:
2015: Mary Abigail Coleman, Let’s Just Sit and Swing
2016: Michael D. Atwood, Nunc Dimittis
2017: Brianna Drevlow, Eli, Eli
2018: Ilian Lundberg, The Lord is Risen

The Summer Singers is a chamber choir committed to providing the community with a variety of excellent a cappella music at the highest level of artistry. TSS aims to make its music accessible to all by providing concerts on a free-will donation basis.