Eski l H cm be rg was appo int ed G e nera l
lt is no su rp rise tha t g iven h is imm ense
Ma na ger of th e Got he nbu rg Concert H a ll and th e Gothenb ur g Opera as well as Artist ic
service to the life of mu sic he was recog n ized
VocalEssence Ensemb le Sing ers, and his own
with ma ny di st inct ion s e.g. the Medal of the
bel oved Eski l Sing ers-- a choir form ed in
Oir ector of the Op era in 1984 and remain ed
King ofSw ed en , 12 th di mens ion with the
recent yea rs, many bei ng for me r member s of
in that position un til 1987 whc n hc was
Aka demi ska Kë ren. A numb er of his works
appo in tcd Gc neral Mana ge r and Ar tistic
rib bon of the Ord er of th e Se raphim ( 1993) . H e became Command e r of the Cross of th e
Oir ecto r of the Roya l Swedish Ope ra in
Ord c r o f M e rit of Port ugal ( 199 1) a nd
H e mb erg wi ll be hono red th is ycar durin g
Stoc kho lm , a po si tion h e held for 9 yea rs.
Com mand er of th e Or cier o f M crit of the
the lnrernar ional Da y o f Mu sic.
Dur ing thi s rim e h e was a boa rd membe r of
Fed cral Rep ublic of G crman y ( 1995) . ln
Bethan y (Ka n sas) Co llege C hoi r, the
h ave been reco rded a nd pu b lish ed and Eskil
th e A ID O (Associat ion Int ern ationa le de s
1997 he rcceived th e A tt crberg Pr ize, in
Eskil is su rvived by h is wife , Birg it and three
Directeurs d 'O péra). Esk il was also (in 1982)
1998 the C u ltur e Prize of th e Cu lt ure- Fun d
childr en, A nna , Joha n an d Love. ln his
one of th e founders and became a memb er of the Board o f O irec tors of th e Int erna tion a l
for Swed e n- Fin land, in 2 000 th e "Buc!
me mory fund s are be ing sol ic ited for th e
Pearso n Di stin gu ished Profe sso r in Swedis h Studi cs" at Bet han y C ollege, Lindsborg , Kansas. Eskil was also recog nized as an
Var mland Festiva l which he founde d in Sweden sevc ral year s ago. lt is po ignan t th at on e of h is last co mpo sitio ns was a settin g of
Hon o rar y Board M emb er o f Voca l Essence in
an Ame rica n Spir itu al with th esc words :
Federar io n fo r C hora l M u sic . In 199 9 hc was elected I FC M President , and re-clcc tcd in 2002 - a po si tion h e held unri l h is untimely deat h.
Minneapolis,
Minn esota.
Sta n ley R. Wold , Pro fessor of Mu sic at the U niversity o f M inn esota Dul uth ,
Cive 111e n litt le more time, denr Cod, 10live Ill)'
lifa.
Minn eso ta (an d to whom 1 am gra tefu l for
f' ve got fi loi of thi11gs I 11eed 10do hefore l lenve his assistan ce wirh th is art icle) says of Esk il rhis enrth nll hehi11d. H emberg as a com poser: "He is 1111111y-ji-1cet ed, } 11 s1give me tim e. perh11pseven eclectic. Hnr111011ically and is melodicnlly, his melodic 12-tone 11ppro11ch Eskil H cm berg was a man wi th g reat visio n similnr to 1h11tof nmong 01hers,Do111i11ick a nd a tru e voice for th e wo rld of c horal llrge1110.ln 1erms of collage1ec/111 iq11e and mu sic; he will be grearly m isscd. nvn11t-g11rde vocal ejfectshe is relntecl10Lars Johan U1/erle . Still other scoresji-1/lorfi tonal Philip Bm11elle, Fowuler nncl llrtistic scheme or the whole-tone smle. His choice of DirectOJ;Voc11/Essence, IFCM Bonrelllclvisor, d prophe1ic texls shows 11strong interest in s11cre Presidem , Sixth U1/orlcl Symposium 011Choml texts while his seculnr texts have been carejit!ly Music selectedfor their lyricism or dm111nric (E11111il : phmnelle@vocnlesse11ce.org)• possibilities." Th e list of work s by Eski l H embe rg favors cho ra l a nd so lo voice, of cour se, but also includ es m usic for the stage, for orga n and cha mb cr mus ic . Th e many cha irs h e has wr ittcn for includ e t he Swedi sh Rad io C h a mb cr C ho ir, Akad emiska Kë re n , Stoc kholm' s Oscar c hur ch , Iowa Scare University C hoir, Da le Warland Sin gers, Plymouth C on grcg a tional Churc h (Minn eapol is), Nor man Luboff Singe rs, Ar rowh cad C horale (D u luth , M inn esota),
ICB A Tributc 10 Eskil 1-kmbcrg
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