Mattias Sköld

Mattias Sköld is a Swedish composer and sound artist currently serving as Director of Studies for composition and Programme Director for all composition programmes at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (KMH). He successfully defended his PhD thesis titled 'Sound Notation: The visual representation of sound for composition and analysis' in June 2024 at KMH, with Professor Craig Vear from University of Nottingham as opponent and a committee including Professors Cat Hope, Palle Dahlstedt, Jason Noble, and Erkki Huovinen.

His research primarily focuses on prescriptive notation, particularly notation for live-electronics and graphic notation. He is expanding his experimental notation research to include action notation, beginning with a study on notation for live-electronics ensembles in collaboration with colleague Mattias Petersson. He is also deeply involved in the development of the CoPeCo master program, a collaboration between music colleges in Stockholm, Tallinn, Lyon and Hamburg.

Sköld's compositional work spans choral music, electroacoustic compositions, and algorithmic composition. His recent works include 'We Know Not Where the Dragons Fly' (part of the 2024 Eric Ericson Award semi-finals repertoire), 'Requiem' (performed by Italian choir Armonici Senza Fili in Bologna), and 'In the beginning' (presented at Nordic Music Days in Reykjavik). He has also contributed to the Halffloor sonic artwork project with his piece 'Epiphany'.

• Musikföreningen i Stockholm's annual scholarship recipient
• Member of STIM's committee for promoting musical diversity and copyrights
• Participant in TENOR conferences on music notation technologies

As Programme Director, Sköld is actively developing new syllabi for KMH's composition master programme and has been involved in PhD defences, including serving on Fernando Garnero's committee. His position at KMH allows him to balance administrative duties with research time and composition work, maintaining a productive career across multiple domains of music creation and scholarship.