Sixten Eckerberg

Swedish conductor, pianist and composer, born 5 September 1909 in Ingatorp parish in Småland, died 9 April 1991 in Vasa parish in Gothenburg. Eckerberg studied piano, conducting and counterpoint and instrumentation at the Academy of Music in Stockholm and he graduated in organ in 1931. He studied conducting as a Jenny Lind fellow in Basel and Vienna, and was a piano student in Vienna and Paris. He was a successful orchestra conductor and was a guest conductor in Warsaw, Rome, Paris, Budapest, Mexico and Guatemala from 1945 to 1955. He preferred Swedish or French repertoire. In the years 1937-1969, he was chief conductor of the Gothenburg Radio Orchestra, the name under which the Göteborgs Symfoniker appeared when they played on the radio. During Eckerberg it happened 762 times. In 1939-1960 he was also conductor at the Göteborgs Symfoniker. Eckerberg made his debut as a composer in 1942 with his first symphony. Stylistically, he combines Nordic skills with 20th century French music and has a dramatic accent and driven orchestral technique.