Guesting ensembles

The Vienna Boys' Choir is the world's most famous boys' choir. Its roots trace back to 1498 (!), and among the choir's former members, you'll find classical giants like Mozart, Haydn, and Franz Schubert. Now, the choir is making a rare guest appearance at the Concert Hall, featuring Swedish music!

The diverse programme showcases many facets of the choir, with much of the music specially arranged for this occasion. Before the interval, the classical dominates with music by Purcell, Mozart, Schubert, Verdi, and Orff, among others. And, of course, there's the quintessential Viennese with both Strauss waltzes and a polka.

After the interval, there are also some Swedish elements, such as Gabriella's Song from the film As It Is in Heaven, and ABBA's Mamma Mia and Thank You for the Music. Perhaps not what one might expect from the Vienna Boys' Choir! This part also includes jazz, musicals, and even Italian crooning – Volare (actually titled Nel blu dipinto di blu) and O Sole Mio!

Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor is one of the truly great masterpieces in music history. Compiled from music he had composed for various occasions over a period of 25 years. Here we find both the magnificent Sanctus, which he composed for Christmas in 1724 when he was new to the job as cantor in Leipzig, and the Osanna written in 1749 by an elderly, almost blind Bach. The Mass in B minor is something of a culmination of Bach's fantastic work.

We hear the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir together with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fredrik Malmberg. Soloists include soprano Anna Zander, who has a special focus on early music, and Kathrin Lorenzen, who won the prestigious Soloist Prize earlier this year.

The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir was founded in 1945 by the then 27-year-old Eric Ericson and has since then held a central place in Swedish and international music life. The choir belongs to the absolute top tier of professional ensembles internationally, and since 2003, Eric Ericson's Chamber Choir has had a close collaboration with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concert Hall.

This year's International Composer Festival at Konserthuset Stockholm is dedicated to the Scottish composer James MacMillan. His music combines raw emotional power with spiritual focus, rooted in his Catholic faith.

The concert begins with an overture: Eleven. Music with a sports theme, inspired by the local football teams in East Ayrshire, Scotland, where MacMillan grew up. Eleven refers to the number of players in a team, and much of the music is built around the number eleven. The piece starts with the sound of a referee's whistle, and familiar melodies from football chants also emerge.

At the heart of the expressive second violin concerto is a simple theme with just three notes played pizzicato at the beginning. As often in MacMillan's music, there are dance-like elements, but also melancholic passages that can suddenly burst open and let in light, like clearings in a dark forest. The soloist is the acclaimed Swedish violinist Ava Bahari.

In the short piece One for chamber orchestra, the atmosphere is idyllic with simple folk music-inspired melodies. Tryst has strong elements of Scottish folk music, but also of other music that has been important to him. "Tryst" can refer to a secret meeting place for lovers, but farmers in Scotland often use the word to describe a place where animals gather, a "trysting place". Here, MacMillan uses Tryst to describe a meeting place for music that is dear to him.

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra performs under the direction of Brett Dean, who himself was the subject of the International Composer Festival at Konserthuset in 2011, but is also internationally active as a conductor.

The Danish baroque specialists Concerto Copenhagen presents a programme centered around Händel and Roman. When the young Swedish violinist and composer Johan Helmich Roman embarked on a study trip to London in 1716, it would prove to be a journey that was decisive, not only for Roman’s life but for the entire history of Swedish music.

Roman came from the German-dominated music scene in Stockholm to London where the dominant musical trend was the Italian style, embodied in the recently arrived Georg Friedrich Händel. Roman was an active part of London’s musical life. He played in Händel’s orchestra at the King’s Theatre and met other musicians and composers, many of them from Italy. So, when Roman returned to Stockholm in 1721, he did so as a well-educated, modern-oriented musician and a brilliant violinist. Most importantly, as a composer, he had acquired a thorough understanding of new stylistic trends, not only in opera but also in instrumental music. 

Roman remained associated with the Swedish court orchestra throughout his life, and his stay in London not only affected ”the father of Swedish music,” as Roman is known today, but also changed the history of Swedish music.This program presents the music that ”the Swedish Händel,” Johan Helmich Roman, encountered in London, as well as the music he composed himself.

In Mozart's fifth and final violin concerto, there is a new richness in the musical language compared to the previous ones. Here, the music is majestic and powerful. The soloist is Alva Holm, who in 2022 won Sweden's premier music competition: Solistpriset, the Soloist Prize. The citation stated: "With musical conviction, technical brilliance, and total presence, Alva Holm captivates the audience from the first note."

The concert opens with a newly composed work by Tebogo Monnakgotla, one of Sweden's most acclaimed composers in her generation. In connection with the world premiere of her violin concerto in 2023, with Johan Dalene and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Dagens Nyheter's Camilla Lundberg wrote that "her colorful and elegant orchestral sounds captivate the listener" and gave the concert the highest rating.

To conclude Norrköping Symphony Orchestra's guest appearance under the baton of Ola Rudner, we hear Dvorák's life-affirming Eighth Symphony. It is nature-inspired music full of joy and exuberant energy. Swedish Ola Rudner began his career as a violinist and has been internationally active as both a violinist and conductor, notably in Austria.

Växjö-based Musica Vitae joins us accompanied by the British violinist and conductor Hugo Ticciati, who is active in Sweden. He founded the O/Modernt festival in 2011, known for its innovative and cross-genre programming, which also characterizes his concert with Musica Vitae.

The first part of the concert presents music infused with religious reverie. We hear the mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen in Vos flores rosarum and wordless violin song in Arvo Pärt's Fratres. Additionally, two meditations on the theme of the suffering mother: John Tavener's Mother of God, Here I Stand from The Veil of the Temple, and Lera Auerbach's Sogno di Stabat Mater (Dream of Stabat Mater). 

After the interval, the mood shifts from spiritual contemplation to exalted rapture. In the enigmatically dancing Aksak and Ciphers, Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer has encoded both Brahms and family members in the score. This is followed by a musical dialogue between Philip Glass's baroque-inspired Symphony No. 3 and three arrangements of songs from the iconic grunge rock band Nirvana's album Nevermind. Bridging the gap between the baroque and contemporary rock music is Purcell’s Cold Song from his semi-opera The Fairy-Queen.

The award-winning Norwegian-Swedish cellist Amalie Stalheim has an international career at the highest level. She has been a soloist with a range of top orchestras and has played chamber music with stars such as Janine Jansen, Yo-Yo Ma, and Leif Ove Andsnes.

Together with the visiting Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, she is the soloist in Prokofiev's magnificent Sinfonia concertante for cello and orchestra. In an almost magical way, the cello's lyrical qualities are exploited, and the music is also charged with power and drama. The orchestra is led by the young French conductor Maxime Pascal, who has conducted a great deal of opera throughout Europe, including at La Scala in Milan.

Like Prokofiev, we consider Stravinsky to be one of the giants of the 20th century. Symphony in C was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and completed shortly after his escape to the USA in 1940. It was a difficult time. In addition to being in exile, Stravinsky had recently lost his first wife, and he himself had been treated for tuberculosis. However, the music sounds like an antidote: classically pure, playful, and rhythmically swinging.

Equally captivating rhythmically is the French composer Camille Pépin's evocative Laniakea, which opens the concert. Laniakea means "immense heaven" in Hawaiian and is the name of a gigantic star cluster that includes the Milky Way and our solar system. Pépin (born in 1990) has received considerable attention in recent years from a range of top European orchestras.

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra visits Konserthuset under the baton of its Chief Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. They are joined by the celebrated Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, internationally acclaimed by both audiences and critics for his beautiful touch and boundless virtuosity.

Together, they present Frédéric Chopin's beloved First Piano Concerto. For Chopin, the piano always took centre stage. His nocturnes, études, mazurkas, polonaises, and impromptus have captivated listeners ever since he charmed audiences in the salons of Paris, or at the few concerts he gave during his all-too-short life. The orchestra plays a subordinate role even in the piano concerto – it is the soloist who shines with imaginative passages, beautiful bel canto melodies, and swirling dances.

Regarding what would become his final symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote in a letter to his brother Anatoly: "I am now completely absorbed in the new work and find it difficult to tear myself away from it. I believe it will be one of my best works. I must finish it as soon as possible." The symphony indeed became one of the great musical masterpieces, filled with profound darkness and exalted beauty.