Jonathan Östlund is a Swedish composer who has recently been living in London and is now in Romania. He has manifested an avid interest for music from an early age and has pursued his passion with a BA and MA in Composition at the Luleå Tekniska Universitet, in Sweden. He has studied under the artistic guidance of Prof. Rolf Martinsson, Prof. Jan Sandström and Prof. Sverker Jullander, among others, and has so far completed almost 100 works, including several orchestral pieces and concertos for both violin and piano, and has been awarded many prizes in international competitions.

This is Divine Art’s third album devoted to Östlund. It is similar to the previous albums in that it features orchestral, instrumental and chamber music with inspiration from nature and also showing the skills of the composer in various genres. Fine young musicians have been hand-picked to perform, alongside the excellent Moscow Bow Tie Orchestra. Östlund’s music is very accessible and tonal and often full of wit and humour, and always atmospheric.

“Östlund’s music possesses the most vital ingredient for a composer: He makes you want to listen to him. Östlund possesses a notably poetic spirit, with a touch of sentiment and melancholy. He balances this with an impish wit that is really quite delightful. Jonathan Östlund is an engaging composer who clearly has a bright future ahead of him. Anyone who relishes lyricism and a poetic spirit should find much to enjoy in this album.” – Dave Saemann (Fanfare)