Play - Overture Act 1

Play - Mastodon

Play - Brushes 04e

Evidence Of It All (feat. Rosamund Pike)

Anne Sofie von Otter
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Michael Collins

Music: Mikael Karlsson
Libretto: Royce Vavrek
Orchestration: Michael P. Atkinson and Mikael Karlsson

So We Will Vanish - 3 - Saint Helena Olive (Anne Sofie von Otter)

This is the music to Alexander Ekman's piece Shift for the Royal Swedish Ballet. The music and the piece were made during the pandemic (Covid 19) and has a distinct air of that muted, calm (for those not infected, and not first responders of course), introspective time.
The score consists of three sections. They are titled after their instrumentation.
The strings were performed by Nick Revel (viola), Clarice Jensen (cello) and Hamilton Berry (cello) at Oktaven Audio in NYC.

Composed and recorded in 2020

Shift 1 (Pipe Organs And Strings)

Mikael Karlsson's music to Mari Carrasco's HÄXOR, commissioned by Regionteater Väst

Häxor - 6 - Spell

Häxor - 3 - In Flames

Häxor - 2 - Submit

Häxor - 1 - Gather Around

Black Sun Productions & Mikael Karlsson
Text and Vocals: Lydia Lunch
Piano on Elements of Desire: Othon Mataragas (part written by him)


02 Desperate Contract (MK with Lydia Lunch, Violin  Fung Chern Hwei, Piano  Cory Smythe)

Music from the dance piece by Hervé Koubi

Sol Invictus

Soundtrack for the piece "Remind me I'm not dead" by Mari Carrasco. 
Music by Mikael Karlsson
Arrangement for 10 strings, and conducted by Michael P. Atkinson

Remind Me - Opening (live Strings)

Mikael Karlsson's score for the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performance on So You Think You Can Dance.

Mikael Karlsson - Ends

Original Score for Alexander Ekman's dance piece HAMMER, which premiered at the Gothenburg Opera with GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. All music by Mikael Karlsson. Recorded with strings from GöteborgsOperans Orkester, conducted by Lars Kvensler and recorded by Joachim Bohäll. Mix and master by Mikael Karlsson. Album cover photo by Victor G. Jeffreys II, and cover design by Johnny Taranto. Rough State Sound 2025. Go to mikaelk.com to contact about licensing. Available on all streaming platforms.

Hammer - 2 - Each Other (Part 2)

Hammer - 3 - Each Other (Part 3)

Hammer - 4 - Want

Hammer - 1 - Each Other (Part 1)

Hammer - 5 - Zero Hour

Hammer - 6 - Halcyon

"How Many More Of These"
Music and lyrics: Mikael Karlsson
Vocals: Anna von Hausswolff
Strings: The Dahlkvist Quartet
Piano: Henrik Måwe
Mix: Andrea Rea
Master: Lars-Göran Ehn

"They Hoped For A Name (Delta Sleep)"
Music and lyrics: Mikael Karlsson
Vocals: Anna von Hausswolff
Marimba: Niklas Brommare
Live processing: Maria Grönlund, Roger Bergström
Mix and master: Lars-Göran Ehn

They Hoped For A Name (delta Sleep)

How Many More Of These?

Alexander Ekman’s "A Swan Lake" premiered at the Oslo Opera House in April of 2014 to stunning reviews (except one, I think, which was really bad :). The first 11 show run sold out in one day.

Music: Mikael Karlsson
Orchestration: Mikael Karlsson, Michael P. Atkinson
The first act of the piece contains quotes from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake”

All music performed by the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Per Kristian Skalstad
Soprano: Elisabeth Teige
Concertmaster, violin soloist: Catharina Chen
Trumpet soloist: Lasse Rossing
Pianist: Yoko Toda

Recording Producer and mastering engineer: Jørn Pedersen
Recording Audio Engineer: Gerhard Hertzberg
Recorded and mixed at the Oslo Opera House in the spring of 2016.

Cover photo: Erik Berg
Cover design: Anna Ekman

Rough State Sound 2016

A Swan Lake - Overture

Second Line (finale)

Second Line

A few pieces from the forthcoming album of music from Alexander Ekman's full evening ballet "Eskapist"

Escapist - A Great Comfort

Escapist - The Escapist Glitch

Escapist - Procession

Here is the dance score for the minimalist faux baroque sequence in Alexander Ekman's piece "Left Right Left Right" for NDT2 (Nederlands Dans Theater 2). I have received a lot of requests for this piece to be released on iTunes, but I want to save it for a dance score compilation with my otherwise unreleased dance scores for NDT2, Ailey II, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet and Project 20.

In the meantime, here is the piece "Walkers", by me, from Ekman's "Left Right Left Right", performed by the Mivos Quartet with Gregory Chudzik on double bass. Enjoy.

Mika

Left Right Left Right - Walkers (performed by Mivos Quartet and Gregory Chudzik)

My arrangement of Chopin's Prelude in e minor Op. 72. Arranged for Christopher Young's film Dolores.

Chopin Nocturne Op. 72 - Arranged for piano and strings

From Daniel Proietto's "Player" for the Norwegian National Ballet.
Oslo Opera Orchestra conducted by Terje Boye Hansen.
Recording Engineer Gerhard Hertzberg.
Mix and master: Jørn Pedersen.

Player - Part 1

Music for five pianos from Alexander Ekman's immersive piece "Rooms" for the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet.
Music: Mikael Karlsson 

Pianists: 
Sigstein Folgerø 
Thomas Knudsen 
Charles Rinaudo 
Zelina Sannum
Yoko Toda

Recording Producer: 
Jørn Pedersen

Sound Engineer: 
Gerhard Hertzberg

Mix and master: 
Mikael Karlsson

Rough State Sound 2020

mikaelkarlssonalexanderekmanpianoquintetpianosrooms

mikaelkarlsson

Popular tracks