Anna-Karin Klockar is a Swedish composer known internationally for her distinctive choral voice, blending expressive nuance with deep roots in Swedish musical tradition. She gained wide recognition after winning the Allmänna Sången & Anders Wall Composition Award in 2016 for Speeches, a dramatic and inventive work for mixed choir. Her background in the Italian film and television music industry—where she worked for 25 years—has contributed to the theatrical sensibility found in much of her music.
Klockar graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1985, studying composition with Lars-Erik Rosell, Daniel Börtz, Arne Mellnäs, Bengt-Arne Wallin, and Per-Gunnar Alldahl. In Rome, she collaborated with leading film composers including Luis Bacalov, Riz Ortolani, and Pino Donaggio, while also conducting choirs and composing in a range of styles from classical to commercial music.
Now based in Falun, Klockar has received numerous honors, including winning the Swedish Church's composition competition in 2014 with Missa Dalecarliensis and the Polyphonos Award in Seattle in 2017. Her choral work Limu limu lima, commissioned for Sveriges Radio’s 2022 Alfvén anniversary, has since been widely performed by the Swedish Radio Choir.
Klockar was also featured in the 2019 #svenskkörmusik series as "Choir Composer of the Month," where she spoke about the inspiration behind Speeches, now available on the album Femina Moderna by Allmänna Sången with Maria Goundorina.