Ragnar Bohlin


Ragnar Bohlin is a Swedish conductor born in 1965.

Director

Grammy award winning Bohlin is director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. With them he has conducted works as Handel's Messiah, Bach's Mass in B minor and Christmas Oratorio, Poulenc's Figure humaine and Orff's Carmina Burana. He is frequently invited as guest conductor and has conducted the Malmö Symphony, the São Paulo Symphony and Chorus, Mendelssohn's Elijah with Fundacion Excelentia in Madrid, and the Swedish Radio Choir and the Nordic Chamber Orchestra in Fredrik Sixten's Requiem.

Founder

In 2014, Bohlin founded the professional chamber choir Cappella SF. As their director he has recorded a Christmas CD, and a CD with music by Bay Area composers David Conte and Conrad Susa.

Education

He holds a master's degree in organ and conducting and a postgraduate degree in conducting from the Conservatory of Music in Stockholm. Bohlin studied conducting with choral conductor Eric Ericson, piano with Peter Feuchtwanger in London and voice with the Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda. With his Swedish choirs KFUMs Chamber Choir, the Maria Magdalena Motet Choir and the Maria Vocal Ensemble, Bohlin has won numerous prizes in international competitions.

Appearances

He has appeared regularly on Swedish radio and recorded a CD with the Swedish Radio Choir and trombonist/composer Christian Lindberg. He has also worked with the Ericson Chamber Choir and the Royal Opera Choir of Stockholm. He has taught at the Conservatory in Stockholm and has been a visiting professor at Indiana University, Michigan University and Miami University. Since 2009 he teaches at the SF Conservatory of Music

Awards

He was the recipient of the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for the recording of Mahler's Symphony no. 8. Bohlin has been awarded with the Johannes Norrby award for "expanding the horizon of the Swedish choral scene", and in 2013 with the SACC Cultural Award.