Artists

Born in 1983, Erik Rydvall began playing violin at the age of five, before at last discovering the nyckelharpa at 18. Between 2003 and 2008 Erik studied nyckelharpa at the Eric Sahlström Institute in Tobo and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Meeting the legendary nyckelharpa pioneers, Johan Hedin and Olov Johansson as well as other musicians such as Magnus Zetterlund and Anders Löfberg persuaded Erik to begin the development of his own approach.
After his graduation, Erik began to work as a professional nyckelharpa player. He was soon touring with the successful Swedish folk music trio Nordic of which he also is a founding member. In 2010 Erik joined the Swiss flamenco dance company “Flamencos en Route” performing “Orfeo and Euridice” (2011) and “El Rubí” (2012). Together with one of Norway’s top Hardanger fiddle players Olav Luksengård Mjelva, he formed the duo Rydvall/Mjelva and in 2012 saw the release of their highly acclaimed debut album “Isbrytaren” (“The Icebreaker”), unifying traditional nyckelharpa and hardangerfiddle music for the first time ever.
He is a musician always on the lookout for new impulses and challenges.
During recent years Erik has established himself on the Swedish folk music scene as a star amongst young nyckelharpa players. He comes from Västerbotten but moved down to southern Sweden to study the nyckelharpa, first at Eric Sahlströms Institutet in Tobo and then at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Today he lives in Stockholm and freelances and teaches full time.
Erik got his first musical “kick” on the international folk music course Ethno in Falun, summer 1999. There he met young people from all around the world and understood that music is a language without boundaries. This has since characterised his way of approaching music and even his approach to the nyckelharpa. Apart from Nordic, Erik has in recent years been noted for his input in the flamenco company “Flamencos en route” in Switzerland, in the spelman’s duo with hardanger fiddler Olav Luksengård Mjelva as well as in different projects with saxophonist Jonas Knutsson. Erik is a musician continuously on the lookout for new impulses and challenges.
Erik Rydvall comes from Västerbotten, and studied keyed fiddle at the Eric Sahlström Institute in Tobo and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. In the past few years he has earned a reputation as one of the leading young keyed fiddle players, and he is known for his energy and virtuosity. He plays with the prize-winning folk music trio Nordic among others.