Hans Davidsson

Hans Davidsson received his Soloist Diploma from the Conservatory of Göteborg, Sweden, in 1985, his teacher being Hans Fagius. A special interest in early music led to three years´ study with Jacques van Oortmerssen at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and post-graduate research on North German Baroque organ music focused on Matthias Weckmann for the University of Göteborg.

In September 1991 the thesis Matthias Weckmann: the interpretation of his organ music (writing, edition and recording) was defended and he became the first doctor of music performance in Sweden.

Since 1974 he has given regular recitals in the Scandinavian countries including tours to England, Germany, the Netherlands and in the USA. In 1986 he was appointed organ teacher at the School of Music, Göteborg University. Since 1988 he was organ professor and since 1989 responsible, at the same institution, for the establishing of an organ center for research in performance practice, and a program of organ instruments which was built according to historical principles, for example, a full-grown North-German baroque organ, which was inaugurated in 2000. From 1995-2000, he was the director of the Göteborg Organ Art Center, GOArt, and he continues to serve as the Artistic Director of the Göteborg International Organ Academy.

Since 2001, he serves as Professor of Organ at the Eastman School Music, Rochester, NY, USA, and Project Director of the Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI). Since 2007, he also serves as professor of organ at the Bremen Hochschule für Künste, Fachbereich für Musik.

In 2001 he was awarded the ÅForsk research prize (the Research Foundation of the ÅF Group), one of Sweden's most distinguished research awards, and in January 2004 he was awarded the King's medal, the highest national award in Sweden, for "significant accomplishments in musicology and music, primarily in the fields of organ research and organ education".