The Santa Clara motet choir, from Stockholm in Sweden, was founded back in 1880 by J. Ludvig Ohlsson and is thus one of the city’s oldest choirs still performing. Since 1979 the choir’s conductor has been Michael Waldenby.

Santa Clara motet choir is built upon singers with distinguished voices, and combines the versatility of a smaller choir with a full bodied sound.

During the last years the choir has been invited to the Nordic music festival in St Petersburg (2006) and the Russian Credo festival in Tallinn and Tartu (2009).

The choir’s repertoire focuses on artistic music from the last 200 years, where composers like Johannes Brahms, Max Reger and Zoltan Kodaly are representative. A speciality is French music for choir and two organs by e.g. Camille Saint-Saëns, Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor; not unexpected since S:t Jacob's church - where many concerts are performed - has two magnificent instruments to use for this task. The choir also enjoys performing relatively unknown, yet much appreciated, pieces by Swedish composers, both modern and in the post-romantic and Nordic romantic tradition. Naturally, the choir also performs works by Michael Waldenby.
 

Michael Waldenby, born in 1953 studied at the Royal Swedish College of Music, having teachers like Carin Gille-Rybrant (piano) and Alf Linder (organ), In 1977 he was awarded the P A Berg jeton, and 1981 he got a soloist diploma for organ players.
Since 1979 Waldenby is mastering the musical activities of the church of S:t Clara, and since 2002 the organist of S:t Jacob's. 2005 he was elected to the Society of Swedish Composers. He's been giving concerts in Sweden and abroad, made several recordings, written articles and essays covering musical and historical topics, and is also the author of the book "Människor, myter och musik", about the more famous among the 19th and 20th century composing organists of Stockholm and the cultural climate of theirs.
As a composer, Waldenby has written several pieces for soloists, choir, organ, and orchestra, e.g. a Christmas oratorio and two organ symphonies. He's now mainly dedicated to vocal music. Among the internationally often played pieces are the cycles for choir Verba Ecclesiastes, and Five Latin Motets. Recently his Suite for piano and two organs has been performed quite frequently.
Michael Waldenby is also a highly appreciated accompanist.