"In its simple genius, Agneta Sköld's music lies close to the soul and evokes thoughts about life's great mysteries - life, death and love." So reads the jury's
motivation for the 2019 composer scholarship
from the Music Association in Stockholm. Agneta Sköld, trained vocal soloist, experienced radio chorister and long-time cathedral organist and choir director for the Marian choir in Västerås, is perhaps best known for her beautiful and singable sacred choral music. Her
There is no rosehas been sung at hundreds of Christmas concerts around the world since it was written in 2004.
Agneta Sköld was born in 1947 and grew up in Västerås where she sang in the Marian Choir, which under the direction of choir director and composer Bror Samuelsson developed into a well-reputed women's choir. Agneta Sköld came from a musical family, the daughter of a church musician and a violinist, and applied to the Academy of Music in Stockholm where she obtained an organist's degree in 1969 and a cantor's and music teacher's degree in 1973. She then trained as a soloist in classical singing and worked for many years as a professional choir singer in the Radio Choir and Eric Ericson's Chamber Choir.
She worked as a church musician from the 1970s until her retirement in 2014. In the 1990s, she moved home to Västerås and got a job in the cathedral - from 2006 as cathedral organist. There she formed Västerås cathedral's motet choir in 1991 and in the same year took over the leadership of her childhood choir, the Marian choir, after the representative Bror Samuelson. Just as for Samuelson, the Marian choir became significant for her activities as a composer and she came to compose a large number of works for the choir. During the 26 years that she led the Marian Choir, it enjoyed success at international choral competitions, and Agneta's strong ties to the ensemble were not least evident when she continued in it after her retirement, then as a chorister. She has also worked as a teacher at the Academy of Music in Ingesund.
After her retirement, Agneta Sköld has had the opportunity to dedicate herself to composing to a greater extent, something that was not least motivated by the increasing number of orders that came from choirs both in Sweden and abroad. The collaboration with the conductor Gary Graden and the St Jacob's Chamber Choir in the Great Church Parish in Stockholm has resulted in works thatThe living Mary, where Sköld set Ebba Lindqvist's poetry to music,Unto us a child is bornandLet Your Light Come.
Agneta Sköld's many years of work as a singer, choir director and church musician have given her solid craftsmanship as a choral composer, a close relationship with text and a special flair for sounds for a large cathedral.
Agneta Sköld has received several awards for her musical work; Choir leader of the year 1998, the Johannes Norrby medal, the Gustaf Aulén prize, the County Administrative Board's scholarship and the City of Västerå's cultural scholarship. In 2011, Agneta Sköld received HM the King's medal in the 8th size for "outstanding contributions to Swedish music life".
