Martin Fröst

Martin Fröst ranks among the globe’s most adaptable and widely respected clarinetists. He also leads orchestras, moving with equal command through core repertoire and new scores while creating daring, freshly conceived programs for both stage and disc.

Born December 14, 1970, in the coastal town of Sundsvall, he took up violin lessons at five before turning to the clarinet at eight under the guidance of Hans Deinzer, Sölve Kingstedt, and Kjell-Inge Stevensson. Early in the 1990s he joined the BIS roster, where he has remained ever since, while also issuing several recordings on Sony Classical. Two honors in 1997—the first prize at the Geneva Competition and the Nippon Music Award for his account of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto—brought wider notice.

He has performed with leading ensembles across many nations, among them the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Orchestra, covering the full range of standard clarinet concertos and chamber works. His recital partners include violinist Janine Jansen and pianists Yuja Wang and Leif Ove Andsnes. A committed advocate for new music, Fröst has premiered pieces by Anders Hillborg, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Kalevi Aho. From 2006 to 2015 he directed Sweden’s Vinterfest Music Festival and served as joint artistic director of the Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival between 2010 and 2015.

He entered the podium ranks as conductor-in-association with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and, in 2017, was named principal conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Roughly every three years he mounts large-scale multimedia productions that combine music, choreography, and lighting, appearing simultaneously as soloist, conductor, scriptwriter, and what he terms “master of the ceremony.” Fröst has spoken candidly about living with Menière’s disease yet has sustained an active performing and recording schedule, issuing the album Night Passages on Sony Classical in 2022. By then his discography exceeded twenty titles spanning core repertoire, contemporary scores, Scandinavian works, and distinctive thematic collections arranged for clarinet.