Jan Emanuel Abras is a critically acclaimed Swedish classical composer. An award-winning artist and scientist, he is also a conductor, musicologist and historian. Abras lived in seven different countries and was raised in cities like his native Stockholm and Geneva, where he received his first music lessons from his mother while his father worked at the United Nations Office. After staying with his French family in Paris, he spent his teenage years in Venice with his Italian family while studying at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia. He then moved to different cities (Buenos Aires, Bilbao, Biarritz) before spending his youth in Vienna, where he studied at the mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna with Kurt Schwertsik. He then moved to Kraków to study with composer Krzysztof Penderecki for a whole study program, after travelling to Germany and Austria to study with composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm.

Abras’ works have been performed in 20 countries at many international festivals, such as Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands), Warsaw Autumn (Poland), MANCA Festival (France), Musiikin aika (Finland), Ördögkatlan Fesztivál (Hungary), International Festival of Kraków Composers (Poland), Piano City Milano (Italy), Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez (Mexico) and Festival Dni Bachowskie (Poland). Abras’ compositions have been performed at a hundred venues throughout the world, such as Bimhuis-Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (Netherlands), International Mozarteum Foundation (Austria), Teatro Colón (Argentina), Théâtre Dunois in Paris (France), Filharmonia Łódzka im. Artura Rubinsteina (Poland), Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin (Germany), Columbia University (United States), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico), Balassi Institute (Belgium) and Hellerau - Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden (Germany).

Abras has won many awards, such as the Theodor Körner Prize (Austria), the TRINAC Prize (ISCM-UNESCO) and the 2nd Vienna Film Music Prize (Austria). Abras completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies, has two doctorates (PhD), and has worked as a university professor and researcher at different institutions. He is a member of the Austrian Composers Association – Vereinigung Österreichischer Komponistinnen und Komponisten (ACOM), formerly known as Österreichischer Komponistenbund (ÖKB), and a member of the French Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM). His works have been recorded on more than 12 CDs released and distributed by record labels such as Naxos Music Library (Japan), Genuin Classics (Germany) and RMN Classical (United Kingdom). Abras’ works are published by Universal Edition, Vienna.