Mikael Lindström

Principal bassoon

A three-piece suit, wood paneling on the walls, and an aquarium. I wanted to become a bank director, but that didn't happen.

As a child of the communal Music School in Filipstad, with long lessons and a warm, encouraging environment in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, I got to play and sing as much as I wanted.

After completing a music program in high school and at a college, I wondered what to do next. I decided to become a bassoon teacher. In Gothenburg, a fantastic world of music opened up for me. The concert hall became my second home, with its lessons and concerts.

'I want to become a bassoonist!' One of the biggest moments of my musical life was when my teacher, also the principal bassoonist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, asked me if I wanted to play in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Of course!

I remember my father, in his prime, walking to the music school with my bassoon because it was too heavy for me. It looked easy in his hands.

I came to Örebro in 1993 and I have no intention to leave.