Lisa Långbacka

Lisa Långbacka is a Swedish accordionist appreciated for her personal ways of improvising and arranging traditional music in the moment. She performs with artists within genres such as folk music, jazz, classical music, tango, pop, opera and theatre.

In 2017, Lisa Långbacka was the Musical Director of the Nobel Prize Banquet where she performed her composition Lightwaves together with the chamber orchestra Musica Vitae. The same year, she was elected “The Composer of 2017” by STIM (Swedish music copyright association).

Lisa Långbacka was the bandleader in Edouard Lock’s performance 11th Floor with the Cullberg Ballet and has worked with composers such as Maria Schneider (Norrbotten Big Band) and Gavin Bryars. Other collaborations include artists such as Lena Willemark, Sofia Karlsson, Tomas Ledin and The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. In 2016, she was touring with the singer songwriter Sofie Livebrant around the North Sea in a filmed project that was broadcasted in Swedish Television. Together with the baroque/folk violin player Lisa Rydberg, Lisa Långbacka forms the duo LISAS whose debut album Fiddle & Accordion Conversations won the Manifest Award for “the best folk music album” in 2017. www.lisasmusic.com

In 2015, Lisa Långbacka was elected “The Accordionist of the Year” by Swedish Accordion Association. She has studied at the School of Music and Drama in Gothenburg and at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.

Lisa Långbacka is currently composing for accordion, string quartet and piano. The music is ordered by the Swedish Radio and will be performed and broadcasted for the first time at Urkultfestivalen in 2019.