Åke Parmerud is an artist with a global presence in contemporary music and media arts. In addition to his electroacoustic and instrumental music, his body of work encompasses compositions that span a wide cross-section of modern experimental music in areas such as dance, film, interactive art, multimedia, theater, and video.

He regularly receives commissions to compose works for international institutions, and his piece Grains of Voices was performed at the United Nations in New York City (NY, USA) on United Nations Day in 1997. His music has been released on eight solo albums and in several compilation albums. Åke Parmerud is also a stage artist and performs concerts with interactive instruments, often as a soloist. In 1998, he was appointed a member of the Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien (Royal Swedish Academy of Music).

With a background in photography, he continued his studies in music at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and later at the Conservatory of Music of Gothenburg. Since his work Närheter [Proximities] won First Prize at the 6th Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1978), he has received 17 international awards and three major Swedish distinctions. On two occasions, he has been awarded the Swedish Grammy for Best Classical Album of the Year, and his music has represented Swedish Radio twice at the Prix Italia, as well as being nominated for the Nordic Council’s major music prize.

His artistic activities have led to several international collaborations. Between 1999 and 2006, he worked closely with the Danish group Boxiganga Teater, developing groundbreaking interactive video installations and telematic concepts and interactive solutions for stage performances. From 2000 to ’02, he collaborated with Canadian choreographer Pierre-Paul Savoie as a composer, sound, and software designer.

Between 2003 and ’17, he created interactive dance and video performances in collaboration with Canadian choreographer Mireille Leblanc, and their work The Seventh Sense received the 2011 Walter-Fink-Preis des ZKM für Tanz, Elektroakustische Musik und Medien [Walter Fink Award of the ZKM for Dance, Electroacoustic Music and Media] (Karlsruhe, Germany). He has also worked as a visual designer and composer with Swedish choreographer Gun Lund in several works and provided sound design for Swedish choreographer Margareta Åsberg’s production A Thousand Years with God.

In the late ’80s, he formed a duo with composer Anders Blomqvist. Their live shows — which included fireworks — were successful throughout Europe well into the ’90s. From 1999 to 2010, he worked as an innovative sound and software designer for interactive sound and image installations and performances.

His own works The Fire Inside, The Living Room, and Lost Angel have been exhibited in Berlin (Germany), Gothenburg (Sweden), León (Spain), Mexico City (Mexico), Paris (France), and Reykjavík (Iceland). He has also curated concerts and served as the artistic director for large audiovisual events, both indoors and outdoors, including at the World Music Days in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1994. Since 2002, he has worked with Olle Niklasson at the sound design company Audio Techture, which received the prestigious Red Dot Design Award in Berlin (Germany) in 2015.

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