Anders Eljas

Anders Erik Gillis Eljas (born 15 January 1953 in Stockholm^{[citation needed]}) is a Swedish musician, orchestrator and conductor.

Eljas in 2015.

Biography

He was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm,^[1] where he studied piano and violin,^[2] began his musical career at Alexandra's^[3][4] and soon toured as keyboardist with Björn Skifs and on ABBA's world tours.^[5][1]

During the 1970s and 1960s, he worked as an orchestrator and arranger for a number of Swedish artists, including Lill-Babs, Lasse Berghagen, Elisabeth Söderström, and Sven-Bertil Taube.^[2]

Eljas worked as a producer for CBS Records International (now Sony Music)^[2] During the 1980s, he orchestrated the musical Chess, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra for a recording of the musical and a 1984 European tour.^[2] In 1988, Eljas was also one of the orchestrators for the Broadway musical Carrie.^[6]

Eljas has conducted and acted as musical director for musicals such as Guys and Dolls, Les Misérables, and Mamma Mia!, and was a conductor for many of Povel Ramel's musical revues.^[1]

From 1978 to 1995, Eljas was often Sveriges Television's band leader for its shows.^{[citation needed]} He was also a regular celebrity contestant on the popular charades show Gäster med gester on TV.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995 he was responsible for the orchestration of Kristina från Duvemåla.^[1]

Since 2000 he has lived with singer Wenche Myhre in Norway.^[7][8]

Movie music

1987: Mio in the Land of Faraway

Filmography

1977: ABBA: The Movie – musician

Musicals

• 1984 – Chess – arrangements & orchestration
• 1995 – Kristina från Duvemåla – orchestration
• 2017 – Chess – new orchestration (first performed in Kristianstad, Sweden, relaunching the musical globally)