Carl-Unander Scharin, Professor of Musical Performance, specialising in Classical Vocal Studies

Carl Unander-Scharin was born in Stockholm in 1964 and graduated from Adolf Fredriks musikgymnasium in 1983. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studied church music, choir education and the supplementary teacher education. Carl Unander-Scharin also graduated from the University College of Opera in Stockholm.

After the studies, he was an opera singer and composer for many years – both on a freelance basis and as an employee at the Royal Swedish Opera, Göteborgsoperan, Malmö Opera and Drottningholmsteatern.

In 2010, Carl Unander-Scharin started his PhD studies at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in collaboration with the University College of Opera. In January 2015, he finished his doctoral thesis, titled "Extending Opera – Artist-led Explorations in Operatic Practice through Interactivity and Electronics”.

"The thesis is about practice-based research in opera. I presented fifteen years’ worth of work with designing, creating and using new, interactive musical instruments in the performing arts. The art of opera has gone through huge changes since its beginnings in the early 17th century. Back then, opera was very experimental and small-scale. It was common for singers and composers to play their own instruments, such as the lute and cembalo. Over the centuries, the art form has been both institutionalised and industrialised."

Carl Unander-Scharin is often cited by other researchers interested in the borderlands between art and technologies, and he hopes to inspire the creation of new art and new, robust technologies.

"I collaborate with researchers in the fields of human-computer interaction, human-robot interaction, subject-specific music education and ethics. It has been especially fun to present my research at events such as the KI Culture Day, Chalmer’s International Science Festival, Forskning & Framsteg’s seminars, the Royal Insitute of Technology’s Tekla festival, and at international conferences on Human-Computer Interaction, CHI."

Carl Unander-Scharin was recruited as a visiting professor at Ingesund School of Music and Karlstad University in 2014. He liked it so much, he decided to stay. He combines teaching vocal studies with research and development work.

"I am also active professionally in the industry, which is extremely important as a researcher and teacher. In December 2022, my new opera, The Tale of the Great Computing Machine is set to premiere. It will be based on both new and previous research, inspired by a spectacularly visionary book from 1966 by Hannes Alfvén, the Royal Institute of Technology’s first and only Nobel Prize winner."

Carl Unander-Scharin is married to Åsa Unander-Scharin. She is a dancer, choreographer and director. The pair have two grown-up sons together and like to go out on the sea in the Stockholm Archipelago. On such occasions, the accordion often makes an appearance, and having mastered a Ship's Officers Class VIII, the family can cruise safely through the archipelago.