Katarina Leyman SWEDEN

The composer Katarina Leyman, originally from the island Orust on the west coast of Sweden, now lives and works in Stockholm. For 6 years she studied music in Boston, USA, leading to dual bachelor's degrees in film scoring and composition at Berklee College of Music, and a master's degree in composition at New England Conservatory of Music. At Berklee she also completed the jazz program just short of the final piano diploma concert, finding composing being her way not performance. Back home she studied composition and music theory pedagogy at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Over the years she’s studied orchestral, woodwind and choir conducting as well as conducting for the film. She’s taught music composition, arranging, film scoring, music theory subjects and some piano at high school/university level.
 
Katarina composes for the symphony orchestra, different settings of chamber ensembles and choirs, dramatic music, music for dance and film. There are often strong visual aspects in her music. Color and texture, shape and movement are often starting points, and form-building elements. Ideas for compositions can emanate from various natural phenomena such as fish shoals, water molecules, volcanic activities, or clouds… 
 
She has made a carrier in the contemporary classical realm but the intention and will to compose music for the film has always been there. 2019 she enjoyed composing the score for the short movie “Vägen” (the Way), a film by Ove Valeskog as part of the Live Score Festival 2025 in Stockholm. Earlier, in 2002 she composed the music for the short movie “Se mig” (See me), a film by Bodil Pettersson without dialogue and with purely through-composed music.
 
Her music is regularly performed in Sweden and internationally. The concert season 2022/2023 Katarina was the Composer in residence for the Västerås Sinfonietta and 2012 – 2015 she was the Composer in residence for Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra. She has been nominated for the Swedish Music Publishers Association Award in the category large ensemble/opera 3 times (Transient Skies 2013, Clarinet Concerto: Verdure 2015, Undulating Blue 2019).
 
The portrait CD Vattenklanger featuring some of her chamber music was released in 2019. During the season 2017/18 Tales of Lost Times for solo viola, a piece commissioned by the Stockholm Concert and ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) for the ECHO Rising Star, was performed in more than 17 European concert halls.