KARIN HELLQVIST

Swedish violinist, researcher, educator and PhD Karin Hellqvist works in the field of cutting-edge music. With profound engagement in the music of today she is a sought-after soloist as well as a dedicated chamber musician. Through active collaborations and dialogue her work aims at understanding, examine, realize and contribute to the process of creating new music as well as challenging the established concert format and conventional collaborative structures. 

Karin Hellqvist is a member of several forefront ensembles for new music in Scandinavia. With Cikada, Oslo Sinfonietta, neon, KammarensembleN and Duo Hellqvist/Amaral she dedicates her time to commissioning and performing new works as well as championing the established contemporary repertoire. In her solo project she regularly commissions new solo works expanding the violin repertoire, often exploring the violin in the company of electronics and various sound objects.  

Regularly invited to renowned international scenes for contemporary music she has performed at festivals as Warsaw Autumn, Wittener Tage, Donaueschinger Tage, Münchener Biennale, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Venezia Biennale, Milano Musica, Ultraschall Berlin, Harvard University, Berliner Philharmonie, Pan Music Festival Seoul and the International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt.

Hellqvist's performances have been broadcasted in many countries and she has contributed to several award-winning recordings. She is collaborating with Norwegian record label LAWO Classics on which her debut album flock was released in October 2019 and her second solo album Palette in 2024. She was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Universität der Künste Berlin, the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and at the Royal College of Music in London from where she graduated with an Artist Diploma in Performance in 2011. In 2016 she received the Interpreter's Prize from the Society of Swedish Composers and in 2020 she was elected as an Honor Member from the same society. During years 2018-2024 Karin was a PhD artistic research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo exploring ways of expanding the classical musician's role and potential. As a researcher, she has published a number of research articles exploring collaborative work.