Choral music - a cappella

Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider. Various sacred choral works composed for concert and service.

Sacred Music

A simple four part setting of the well known vesper hymn. Recording of first performance in service at Hagakyrkan, Göteborg, on March 25, 2021. Johanna Ek-Wahlqvist (soprano), Lina Bjarnegård Carlsson (alto), Mikael Carlsson (tenor), Erik Gustafsson (bass), Ulrike Heider (director).

Ave Maris Stella (2021)

O Magnum Mysterium (2008)

Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider. Various sacred choral works composed for concert and service.

Sheet music available from Carlssons Kluster:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/agnus-dei-digital-sheet-music/21289766

Agnus Dei (2009)

Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider. Various sacred choral works composed for concert and service.

Sheet music available from Santa Barbara Music Publishing:
https://sbmp.com/SR2.php?CatalogNumber=1208

Song of Faith

Song of Faith (2014)

Ave Maria (2014)

Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider. 

Sheet music available from Carlssons Kluster:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/rhyme-of-polaris-digital-sheet-music/20714656

Lyrics from H.P. Lovecraft's short story "Polaris" (1918):

Slumber, watcher, till the spheres,
Six and twenty thousand years
Have revolv'd, and I return
To the spot where now I burn.
Other stars anon shall rise
To the axis of the skies;
Stars that soothe and stars that bless
With a sweet forgetfulness:
Only when my round is o'er
Shall the past disturb thy door.

Recording by Erik Sikkema (http://www.freewebs.com/eriksikkema/).

Rhyme of Polaris

Buy sheet music!

Rhyme of Polaris (H.P. Lovecraft) (2015)

In October 2015, Johannebergskyrkan in Göteborg, Sweden, celebrated its 75th anniversary highlighted by a number of concerts. For the final one, on October 18, the Church of Sweden and the Congregation of Johanneberg, commissioned a new piece by composer Mikael Carlsson. "Te Deum", written for choir and orchestra, sets the old christian hymn (also known as "A Song of the Church") to suggestive and dramatic music with the pitches of the church's three tower bells as it foundation. The piece also incorporates a theme by Hilding Hallnäs (Johannebergskyrkan's first organist and a fine and prolific composer in his own right) to acknowledge the great musical heritage of the church. 

Music Composed by Mikael Carlsson
Conducted by Jan K. Delemark
Johannebergs Oratoriekör
Camerata Gothia
Musicians from GöteborgsOperan
Daniel Åkerlund, trumpet solo
Music Recorded by Erik Sikkema

Concert video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyAVTHfBYd4

Te Deum for Orchestra and Choir (2015)

The world premiere performance of a setting of a spiritual poem written by Boris Elkis. Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider, Mariakyrkan, Helsingborg, June 17, 2018.

My God, My Love, in me you dwell.
Your love flows from your infinite well.
Help me remember all that I am.
Help me break through illusory dam

We don’t know all of your mysteries.
We dwell within you for all history 
I look at the faces of people I know
I know that you’re there behind of it all

The silent watcher who is never asleep
He watches and tends to all of his sheep
He knows all the secrets and holds all the keys
He craves the sweet nectar from all of his bees

He knows all the words before they are sung
He knows all the deeds before they are done
He feels our desires, our pains and regrets
He suffers and pays for all of our debts

No moment goes by when he does not try
To get us to feel his presence up high
To get us to see the beauty within
To hear his whisper pulse through our skin

My Love, My God, to you we’ll return
Your fire’s ablaze and I’m feeling it burn
My Love, My God, in you we will die 
So you can take us back to the sky

The Silent Watcher (2017)

Haga Motettkör conducted by Ulrike Heider. Performed in service in Hagakyrkan, September 30, 2018.

- - -

Gratias Deo
Gratias ago Deo,
Quia spritus est cantus.

Gratias Deo.
Gratias ago Deo,
Per potentiam virtuete cantus.

Gratias Deo,
Gratias ago Deo,
Quod ad amorem, caritas cantus.

Gratias Deo,
Gratias ago Deo,
Quod a sanitatem cantus ad sanitatem.

Gratias Deo,
Propter Gaudium, gaudium in cantus.
Gratias Deo.

- - -

Thank God,
thank you God,
for the spirit of singing.

Thank God,
thank you God,
for the power of singing.

Thank God,
thank you God,
for the love of singing.

Thank God,
thank you God,
for the health of singing.

Thank God,
thank you God,
for the joy of singing.

Gratias Deo (2018)

Composer specializing in choral and orchestral music for concert use and service. Works published by Svensk Musik,  Bo Ejeby Förlag and Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Arranger of film music for concert use (clients include Marco Beltrami, Terence Blanchard and Carter Burwell) and a soundtrack album producer with +600 albums released on the acclaimed record label MovieScore Media. Mikael is also a producer for three choirs in Göteborg, Sweden, and a singer(tenor/alto).