Photo: Anders Roth

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Markus Leoson was admitted to the Royal University College of Music at the age of 15 (graduated in 1991). 1993–2008 he was employed as solo timpanist with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Since 2008 he is Professor at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany.

Mr. Leoson´s repertoire is exceptionelly wide and many composers have written directly for him, not only works for solo percussion, but also for the Hungarian instrument cimbalom. He has appeared as soloist with most Swedish symphony orchestras e.o., and has performed on both radio and TV in all Nordic as well as most European countries. He has also recorded a number of solo and duo CDs.

Apart from the Swedish Soloist Prize, which he obtained in 1995, he has been awarded several prestigious international ones, such as the Lauréat (1st prize) in the European Broadcasting Union/EBU´s competition IFYP (International Forum of Young Performers) in Bratislava and the only prize distributed in the International Music Competition of the ARD, Munich (both in 1997). He was appointed Artist in Residence by the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation for the 1996/1997 season.