Nils-Erik Sparf harks from a family of fiddlers in Rättvik, Dalecarlia. his father, Sparf-Anders, was a well-known personality and fiddler. both folk music and classical music were played in the home. as a five-year-old, Nils-Erik heard his father play Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in a major. here is how he describes this music today: Here is something self-evident about Mozart’s music; it’s like clear water, or like a spring brook. e di cult part of Mozart’s music is its crystal clarity, its free ow; you have to make sure you don’t get in its way. Even in sorrowful minor-key sections the ow is free and open. The music has to leave your hands in the same light manner it was written. And this is something you truly have to strive for... and strive not to strive for... so it sounds light and free...

Nils-Erik Sparf works at Music in Uppland as concertmaster of the Uppsala Chamber orchestra and principal violinist of the Uppsala Chamber soloists. Moreover, he serves as leader of the Drottningholm baroque Ensemble and concertmaster of the stockholm sinfonietta. he has previously been the concertmaster of the Stockholm royal Court orchestra and the royal stockholm philharmonic orchestra. he has made a great number of CD recordings.

Nils-Erik Sparf has been a member of the royal academy of Music since 1992. he has garnered a number of distinctions and awards for his unique interpretations. In January 2004 he was awarded the Litteris et Artibus Medal, conferred by king Carl XVi Gustaf, and in November 2013 the interpret prize from the royal academy of Music. Nils-Erik Sparf plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1709 that is owned by the Järnåker Foundation.