Stefan Nykvist

Swedish organist, accordionist and singer, born on May 19, 1976 in Älvdalen, Dalarna. Nykvist was a founder of Larz Kristerz in 2001, and a member of the band between the years 2001 and 2014. His last gig with the band was on January 4, 2014 at 'Bygdegården' in Evertsberg, Älvdalen, Dalarna. In 2003, Nykvist participated in the documentary Hagström - Allt i musik about Albin Hagström who, based on his love of music, built an international empire with manufacturing of accordions, guitars and amplifiers. AB Albin Hagström was founded in 1925 in Älvdalen. Larz Kristerz, including Nykvist, won the first 'Dansbandskampen' competition as the most popular dance orchestra of the year in Sweden, broadcast on Sveriges Television in 2008. In the autumn of 2009, he led his own choir from Älvdalen, Team Stefan, in the 'Körslaget' competition, which is based on the original American format Clash of the Choirs from 2007, to being a runner-up to the winning team, Team Ola (3). 'Körslaget' was broadcast on Swedish TV4. And, due to Nykvist's success with his team in the competition, Kent Lindén acted as substitute for Stefan Nykvist in Larz Kristerz during the three months long period of weekly TV performances and choir rehearsals. In December in 2013, it was announced that Nykvist would leave Larz Kristerz. After his leave, Nykvist has performed solo projects and played in different music constellations. In an interview on Sveriges Radio P4 Dalarna in November in 2016, Nykvist told the channel that he would build a Swedish 'folkpark', including all the attributes from 'folkparks' like hot dogs, tombolas, darts, lottery kiosks, chocolate wheels and a dance-pavilion with Chinese lanterns, all of this inside 'Hotell Älvdalen' in Älvdalen. A year later, in 2017, Nykvist and his orchestra met their admires and audiences in sold out arena concerts, performing then music from the year 1965, the best year of the 1960s both musically and mood-wise, according to Nykvist. Following this, Nykvist released his first solo album, Stefan Nykvist in 2020. Nykvist is also a well-known speaker of 'älvdalska', a North Germanic language spoken by up to 3,000 people in Älvdalen but very hard for other Swedes outside Dalarna to understand. Nykvist has also been recorded when singing the well-known Brendan Graham and Rolf Løvland song "You Raise Me Up" in 'älvdalska' in 2011, released on YouTube in the same year (To hear it, click on the YouTube web link below!).