Background
Björlin was born in Stockholm and went as a 19-year-old to study music for the conductor Igor Markevitch in Salzburg, later continuing at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he had Nadia Boulanger as a teacher.
Björlin was born in Stockholm and went as a 19-year-old to study music for the conductor Igor Markevitch in Salzburg, later continuing at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he had Nadia Boulanger as a teacher.
After completing his military service, he worked at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and at the Malmö College of Music. From 1962, he was employed as musical producer at Sveriges Radio and wrote music for several movies and television productions, including the series of films and television series about the children on the island Saltkråkan (Seacrow Island), based on Astrid Lindgren"s scripts. He also worked as music director for many years under Ingmar Bergman at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.
He worked with Evert Taube, his neighbor from a very young age.
Later, together with Sven-Bertil Taube, he also produced a number of recordings of songs by Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube and Ulf Peder Olrog. He conducted several recordings of orchestral music by fellow Swedes Johan Helmich Roman and Franz Berwald.
During the last years before his death, he worked in Florida mostly, where he was conductor of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Florida Festival Philharmonic and the Palm Beach Symphony. He had composed important work such as the "Musical Portrait of Raoul Wallenberg" in the years before his passing and several operas.
He was known to be the most active opera composer in the world in the 20th century.
In his days he recorded several albums for the Electric and Music Industries label. He died in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 60. The cause was leukemia.
The 7th (?) of september was declared "Maestro Ulf Bjorlin Day" by the Mayor of Newport.
He is the father of actress Nadia Bjorlin and musicians Ulf Bjorlin Junior., and Jean-Paul Bjorlin. Björlin also has two other sons, Henrik Björlin and Fredrik Björlin.