More albums from Fredrik Ullén
About Fredrik Ullén
Hometown
Västerås, Sweden
Born
1968
Genre
Classical
Pianist Fredrik Ullén specializes in the works of Kaikhosru Sorabji and other composers whose music requires an extreme degree of virtuoso technique. In addition to performing, Ullén is a professor of neuroscience at Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
Ullén was born on April 13, 1968, in Västerås, Sweden. He attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, studying with Gunnar Hallhagen and Irène Mannheimer, and graduating in 1993. Ullén went on for further studies in Germany and Finland; the latter course was with pianist Liisa Pohjola, whom Ullén has cited as an important influence. At the same time, he was working toward a doctorate in neuroscience; he defended his dissertation at the Karolinska Institute in 1996, joined the Stockholm Brain Institute as a researcher, and became an associate professor at the Karolinska Institute in 2006, rising to become a professor of cognitive neuroscience in 2010. Ullén has toured Scandinavia, Germany, Hungary, and the U.S., also appearing at major festivals. He has performed in duets with cellist Judit Csatoszégi, percussionist Jonny Axelsson, and oboist Helen Jahren; with the latter, he has premiered works by Kim Hedås, Mårten Josjö, and others. Ullén has worked with various other contemporary composers, including György Kurtág, Mauricio Kagel, and George Flynn.
Ullén is perhaps best known for his recordings, most of which have appeared on the BIS label (a few are on Caprice). He made his debut in 1996 with the first album in a cycle of the complete piano music of György Ligeti. His 2000 album Got a Minute included works inspired by Chopin, from the 19th century to the present day. Among Ullén's most noteworthy projects is a complete set of Sorabji's 100 Transcendental Studies, which began in 2006 and concluded in 2021 with an album of Studies 84 to 100. Ullén is a member of the Prometheus Society, an organization of people with unusually high IQs. ~ James Manheim
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