Born in Borås on 10th June, 1947. He studied (mainly piano) 1966-1973 at Ingesund and at the State College of Music in Gothenburg. He then studied composition etc. privately in Gothenburg with Lennart Hall. He has been teacher of contemporary music, ensemble playing and chamber music at the State College of Music, Gothenburg, since 1974, and has also worked as a conductor at Utomjordiska Teatern.
Carl-Axel Hall has come a long, hard way. He did not come of a musical family, but he always had an urge to express himself in music, even though he had to take many round about paths in order to do so. He started at the age of 13 as a rock musician, playing the electric organ. One of the bands he played in was such a big success that it also gave performances in Germany. Before studying at Ingesund he had taken no interest in classical music, but once there he was taught by the conductor Tor Mann - a living legend who changed the course of his life. Meantime Carl-Axel Hall played in the Curry jazz group, which has also made gramophone recordings, and he composed pieces for both groups — rock and jazz. He is a former member of the Göteborg Chamber Choir, and he has played chamber music by Crumb and Stockhausen, among others.
As a self-taught composer he has studied all the various forms of western music and he employs all the techniques available, but in a language of his own. He listens to all kinds of music and he looks on his own compositions as holding up a mirror to life. He does not imitate the musical language of other ages, but one way or another he has been influenced by them. He is at pains to establish contact with both audiences and performers, but this does not in any way lead him to refrain from complexity or organic rhythm.
The first composition he is still prepared to admit to is Symbios (1984), which has been followed by a succession of works for smaller groups, including Levels for piano, Betraktelser for eight wind instruments, piano and percussion (both 1984), and Hopes and Prayers for brass band (1987) in which 7-8 hymns are played simultaneously - all in C major. To words by Martin Nyström he wrote Karin öppnar sitt hjärta och visar oss sitt vackra hem (1985), Kärleken är halv och världen är full av tenorer (1986) — a chamber opera with a cast of two, performed in two different productions in Gothenburg and nominated the music-drama event of the year by the newspaper Göteborgs Posten - and En nattlig badort (1988) for youth symphony orchestra and girls’ choir. In 1987 he wrote the ballet Atlante for the Rubicon ballet company. SJ