Svante Henryson

Childhood & Studies

Svante Henryson grew up in Umeå in northern Sweden. His father was a Full Professor of Education, and his mother a Director of Studies in English at Umeå University.

At age 12, after falling in love-at-a-distance with a female bassist at a concert, Svante began playing bass guitar in a rock band. Two years later, he switched to jazz and double bass. A concert with Stan Getz at the Umeå Jazz Festival made up his mind about becoming a musician. Another life-changing experience was hearing the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in concert in Östersund.

He left his hometown already at age 14 to study music: two years in Härnösand, three years at Ingesund College of Music and (later) one year at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He was Principal Double Bass of the World Youth Orchestra 1983 to 1984.

Early professional years

Still in his teens and halfway through music college, he became a member of the Oslo Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons 1983–1986. After making his solo debut with the Oslo Philharmonic in Wanhal's Bass Concerto, he became the orchestra's Assistant Principal Bassist.

1987–1989 he was Principal Bassist of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra led by Iona Brown.

After a drastic change in direction, he became bass guitarist of Yngwie Malmsteen's band 1989–1992. During this period he started playing cello, an instrument on which he is an autodidact.

Henrysons first solo album, Enkidu, was released in 1997. He has also been prominently featured on many other albums in a very wide musical area.

As a session player he has worked with Stevie Wonder, Ryan Adams, Elvis Costello and Steve Gadd.

Today

Svante Henryson is a composer of orchestral music, as well as choral music and chamber music. His "Electric Bass Concerto", composed in 2007, introduces the bass guitar in a new role as a classical solo instrument.

Elvis Costello and Henryson collaborated as songwriters on the album "For the Stars".

Svante Henryson is an ECM recording artist, performing in various formations with Jon Balke, Ketil Bjørnstad, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Marilyn Mazur, Arve Henriksen, Anders Jormin, Terje Rypdal and Palle Mikkelborg.

He also performs in chamber music duos and trios with Roland Pöntinen, Martin Fröst, Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg. Svante has been the Musical Director of Asian, American and European tours with Anne Sofie von Otter.

Svante Henryson was Northern Norway's Landsdelsmusikernes Artist-in-Residence 2010-2012, composing and performing with the Sami community.

He is currently artistic director of the Umeå Chamber Music Festival.

Awards

Spellemannprisen 1984 for Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 (with the Oslo Philharmonic)
Spellemannprisen 1987 for Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 (with the Oslo Philharmonic)
Spellemannprisen 1988 for Britten/Mozart/Tchaikovsky (with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra)
Spellemannprisen 1988 Spellemann of the Year (with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra)

Chamber Music Piece of the Year in 2010 for Sonata for Solo Violin awarded by the Swedish Music Publishers' Association.

Jazz Musician of the Year ("Jazzkatten") by the Swedish Radio in 2014.

Henryson was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2015.

Works

(selected)

Orchestral

Choral

Chamber music

Discography

(selected)