Ivo Nilsson was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at IRCAM in Paris. In 1989 he made his debute as a soloist with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and as a composer with an Octet premiered by the Ensemble L’Itinéraire at Radio France. He is a member of KammarensembleN and a frequent guest in internationally acclaimed ensembles such as Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. Ivo Nilsson was the artistic director of the Stockholm New Music festival in 2003 & 2005. In 2007 he was awarded the Interpreters price from the Society of Swedish Composers. In 2017 he was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.