Matti Bye

Matti Bye (Born 1966) is widely considered as one of Sweden's most important composers of film scores and an extraordinary performer with his own, incomparable style of improvisation on the piano.

Earlier this year he wrote the score for Academy Award nominee Jan Troell's latest feature Everlasting Moments and Stig Björkmans "Scenes from a playhouse" a documentary about Ingmar Bergman.

He is also recognized for having written a series of innovative scores for the early Swedish silent film classics(as Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström and Gösta Berling Saga by Mauritz Stiller) included on a DVD box set released by Svensk Filmindustri, SF.

After 2 years at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Stockholm he work with visual artists in a very exciting journey mixing different artforms into a new wholeness. Film, art and music in new constellations. Writing music in a very personal, minimalistic and sensitive style he work with soloist and different orchestras around Europe.

He has 2 experimental improvisationsband (Vinter and Maailma) and are soon ready with his first filmwork, called "The Birth of A Moving Image" wich is a tribute to early film in a new cinematic and musical approach.

He is also a regular performer at International film festivals,
including the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, the Bologna Film Festival (Il Cinema Ritrovato), the Berlin International Film Festival, and the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Finland.

The Matti Bye Ensemble is a well established and highly estimated performer of scores for silent films.The ensemble has been performing regularly since the mid 90s, supplying musical scores to silent films from Sweden and from the rest of the world. The performances range from pure improvisations to composed scores. Many of the scores composed by Matti Bye have been released on video and DVD, both through the Swedish Film Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and through Kino International in New York, NY, as well as on CD thorugh Rotor Records in Stockholm.

Outside its nucleus of Matti Bye, Kristian Holmgren, and Lotta Johansson, the ensemble has collaborated with and included many famous Nordic performers, Martin Fröst, Mikael Marin, Goran Kajfes, Leo Svensson, Lau Nau, Johan Berthling, Nicolai Dunger, Mattias Olsson and others.

The ensemble has performed at motion picture theatres and film festivals all over Europe, including several performances over the years at the esteemed Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. Other venues include the Filmmuseum in Vienna, Austria, the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finland, the TIFF Silent Film Days in Tromso, Norway, the Cinéma du Panthéon in Paris, France, the Kino Arsenal in Berlin, Germany, the Silent Film Festival in Pordenone, Italy, the Swedish Film Instute, Lincoln Center and M.O.M.A in New York along with concerts in various places in the world.