Born in Stockholm, 30 August 1933. Studies at the State College of Music, Stockholm (musical theory, piano, violin, conducting) 1953-59, 1962-63. Composition studies first privately with Erland von Koch (1954-55), then with Lars-Erik Larsson and Karl-Birger Blomdahl at the State College of Music. Further studies at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin with Boris Blacher, composition, and Josef Rufer, Schönberg analysis in 1959-60; privately with Max Deutsch in Paris and György Ligeti in Vienna in 1961-62; electronic music with Gottfried Michael Koenig in Bilthoven, Holland in 1962-63. Attended the International summer courses in Darmstadt, Germany in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Returned to the State College of Music in Stockholm to teach theory (1963-72), then orchestration and composition (1972-86).

Longer stays in Tokyo and San Francisco (The Tape Music Center) in 1964. Visiting professor of composition at Rice University, Houston, Texas in 1985; freelance composer since 1986. Board member of the Swedish Composers´ Society 1979-89. Member of the Royal Academy of Music since 1984; lifetime State Artist´s Grant since 1986; President of the ISCM 1996-2002; Honorable member of ISCM since 2002. First prize for the orchestral work Collage in the Gaudeamus composition competition in Holland in 1963.