Kenneth Karlsson
Born 1952 in Åmål, Sweden.
Kenneth Karlsson played in the eighties in the Swedish group Aquarius, the Oslo Sinfonietta and the two piano, two percussion group Ensemble K4. After a concert in 1988 playing Karlheinz Stockhausens Kontakte, Karlsson and percussionist Bjørn Rabben started Cikada Duo. In 1989 the ten musician large ensemble Cikada also formed around the duo.
Karlsson is now active playing chamber music and solo concerts. He is pianist in Cikada and Cikada Duo and a member of improvisation group Point 4 together with Jon Balke, Ingar Zach and Bjørn Rabben. Karlsson has toured in Europe, Asia and America. He has recorded a number of CDs, worked with video, dance and multimedia, and has worked with internationally recognized composers and musicians such as James Dillon, Bent Sørensen, Hilde Torgersen, Richard Barrett, Tan Dun, Jon Balke, Conny Bauer, Rolf Wallin, Sidsel Endresen, Paul Rutherford and Åke Parmerud. He has performed a huge number of premiers from Scandinavian and International composers. Prizes include the Norwegian Grammy (2001) for the solo-CD “sofferte onde serene» playing music by Nono, Berio, Scelsi, and the Nordic Council Music Prize (2005) together with Cikada.
Kenneth appears on the following SOFA-releases
- Point 4 «Panopticon» (piano)