Einar Englund

During his time in the Finnish Continuation War he was wounded in his hand, which almost brought to an end his hopes of pursuing a career as a concert pianist.

In 1949 Englund was awarded a grant to study in the United States with Aaron Copland, and he also played jazz with Leonard Bernstein.

It has been suggested that Englund's study with the American master consisted of discussions about music and composition, Copland having realised that there was little he could teach the younger man.

Throughout the 1950s he produced a series of large-scale works including Sinuhe, a ballet (1953) originally for piano though later orchestrated, and Odysseus (1959), written for the Swedish dancer and choreographer Birgit Cullberg, a Cello Concerto (1954) and the First Piano Concerto (1955), as well as film scores and incidental music.

During the 1950s, with his second wife, the singer Maynie Sirén, he performed a cabaret act; he was music critic of the Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet, and he taught at the Sibelius Academy from 1958 until 1982.