Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg was born on June 27, 1958. He is a Finnish composer and pianist. From 2009 to 2012, he was the composer-in-residence for the New York Philharmonic. From 2014 to 2017, he was the composer-in-residence for the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Early life

Lindberg was born in Helsinki, where he studied at the Sibelius Academy with Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen, starting with piano. He took summer classes in Siena with Franco Donatoni and in Darmstadt with Brian Ferneyhough. After graduating in 1981, he traveled throughout Europe, taking private lessons with Vinko Globokar and Gérard Grisey in Paris, and watched Japanese drumming and punk rock performances in Berlin.

Compositions and style

Lindberg's early works include the large orchestral piece Donor, composed when he was 16 years old. His first published work is Quintetto dell’Estate (1979). The first professional orchestra performance of Lindberg’s music was Sculpture II in 1982, which was the second part of a trilogy. The first and third parts of this trilogy were not written for a long time. His first major success was Action-Situation-Signification (1982), the first piece in which Lindberg used musique concrète, a style of music that uses recorded sounds. This piece was written for and first performed by Toimii, a new-music ensemble Lindberg started in 1980. Around the same time, Lindberg formed a group called the Ears Open Society, which included him and other musicians such as Eero Hämeenniemi, Jouni Kaipainen, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Herman Rechberger. Lindberg is a trained pianist and has performed some of his own works with Toimii.

Another piece, Kraft (1983–85), written for Toimii, is Lindberg’s largest work to date. It has harmonies with more than 70 notes and a score that is as tall as a meter. The piece uses traditional instruments, percussion on scrap metal, and spoken words. After finishing Kraft, Lindberg struggled to compose for more than two years, except for Ur (1986), which he called "Kraft in chamber form." During this time, he was rethinking his musical style and recovering from a tropical disease he caught while traveling in Indonesia.

Kraft used a structure similar to a chaconne, where the music is based on a repeated pattern of chords. This idea influenced Lindberg’s next style of composition. He returned with an orchestral trilogy: Kinetics (1988), Marea (1989–90), and Joy (1990). While Lindberg became less interested in electronically altering sound, he continued to use computer software for composition, as seen in Engine, which features complex computer-generated counterpoint. Since Joy, Lindberg has gradually improved his style, orchestration, and harmonies. This development first appeared in Corrente (1992) for a small ensemble and its orchestral version, Corrente II, and in Duo Concertante (1992). These works show influences from composers such as Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail, Igor Stravinsky, and minimalism. His symphonic piece Aura (1994) reflects a newer, more varied style.

Lindberg has continued to refine his style, moving toward a type of new tonality first suggested in works like Joy and Aura. This development reached its peak in his popular Clarinet Concerto (2002), which has a melody resembling folk music and rich orchestration. His recent work, Two Episodes, was first performed at the BBC Proms on July 24, 2016. This piece is a companion to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with references to the symphony and other works by Beethoven, much like how the Louvre Pyramid in Paris complements the Tuileries Palace.

Awards and honors

Lindberg has won several composition awards, such as the Prix Italia (1986), the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (1986), the Nordic Council Music Prize (1988) for Kraft, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize for large-scale composition (1992).

Lindberg was named composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic for the 2009–2010 season at the invitation of Alan Gilbert, who was the new music director. The Philharmonic’s September 2009 opening night gala, which marked Gilbert’s first performance as music director, included a new piece by Lindberg called EXPO, which was well received. Lindberg’s fourth and last commission as composer-in-residence was the Piano Concerto No. 2, which was first performed on May 3, 2012.

Works

• Zungenstimmen for wind orchestra (1994)
• Gran Duo for wind orchestra (1999–2000)
• Ottoni for brass ensemble (2005)

• Jag vill breda vingar ut for mezzo-soprano and piano (1977–78)
• Untitled for chamber chorus a cappella (1978)
• Songs from North and South for children's chorus a cappella (1993–2008)
• Graffiti for chamber chorus and orchestra (2008–09)
• Accused for soprano and orchestra (2014)
• Triumf att finnas till (Triumph to Exist) for chorus and orchestra (2018)
• Like As The Waves for soprano and violin (2021)