Biography

Sven Eric Emanuel Johanson (10 December 1919 - 29 September 1997) was a Swedish composer and organist. Sven-Eric Johanson was born to Hjalmar and Beda Johanson in Västervik in 1919. The parents were both officers in the Salvation Army, but in 1926 Hjalmar became a pastor in Missionsförbundet instead. He began his formal music studies in 1938 at the Ingesund College of Music and was accepted to the Royal College of Music, Stockholm in 1939.

During his time as a student in Stockholm, Johanson studied composition with Melcher Melchers and organ with Otto Olsson and Alf Linder. In 1944 Johansson became the director of music at Uppsala Missionskyrka. In the 1940s Johanson studied Ernst Krenek's book on the twelve-tone technique and employed it in his 1949 Sinfonia ostinata.In 1952 he became the organist at Hagens kapell (today Älvsborgs kyrka) in Gothenborg, a position he held until 1977.

He was a founding member of The Monday Group. In 1971 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.He is buried on the Stampen cemetery in Gothenburg.