Anna Jalkéus

Anna Jalkéus (born 4 May 1992 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish jazz singer, harpist, composer and educator. She has been active professionally since 2012 and is an associate professor of jazz voice at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan, KMH).

Early life and education Anna Jalkéus comes from a family of professional musicians. Her parents, Anders Jalkéus and Margareta Bengtson, are founding members of the Swedish a cappella group The Real Group.

She grew up in Tyresö, south of Stockholm, and attended Adolf Fredrik's Music School (Adolf Fredriks Musikklasser) from the age of ten. She studied jazz voice and harp at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and later at the University of North Texas in the United States, where she completed a Graduate Artist Certificate in Music Performance.

Early career At the age of 12, Jalkéus was a member of the Swedish duo Limelights. The duo won the national competition Lilla Melodifestivalen 2004 with the self-written song "Varför jag?" and represented Sweden at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Lillehammer, Norway.

Career Composition As a composer, Jalkéus writes music for harp ensembles and vocal jazz settings. Her composition The Woods for harp ensemble was published by Lyon & Healy Music and is performed internationally.

Her work Bixi for harp ensemble premiered at the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong in 2017 and has since been performed internationally. Jalkéus notably composed and premiered a Concerto for Jazz Voice and Harp titled ”The Rise of Estrogenia” (2017), for herself as a soloist accompanied by a rhythm section and a full symphony orchestra.

She has also appeared on recordings by other artists, including albums by Emilio Mesa and the UNT Jazz Singers.

Performances and collaborations

Jalkéus has performed internationally, including concert tours in China and appearances at major music conferences and festivals. In 2022, an orchestral version of her composition Jupiter was performed with the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra.

She has performed with ensembles connected to the University of North Texas jazz program, which has been described by WBGO as one of the most prominent jazz education programs in the United States.

Since 2023, she has collaborated with Latvian singer-songwriter Jānis Šipkēvics (Shipsea) in the duo project DuoLab.

Teaching

Since 2021, Anna Jalkéus has been employed as a lecturer (lektor) in jazz voice at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where she teaches jazz vocals, ensembles, and vocal jazz groups.

She previously taught jazz voice at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

Awards and honors

Ted Gärdestad Scholarship (2013) Monica Zetterlund Scholarship (2015) Multiple STIM scholarships (2011–2022)