Konserthuset Stockholm

Successful South Korean composer Unsuk Chin was the focus of Konserthuset’s Composer Festival in 2013. She now returns with a newly composed orchestral piece. It is a joint commission from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. Entitled SPIRA, the piece is a masterful concerto for orchestra.

After intermission, we will hear Bruckner’s symphonic world through one of his best-known symphonies: the seventh. This symphony was a major turning point in his career and a resounding audience success! It was also the first of his symphonies to be recorded.

Bruckner deeply admired Wagner, and the symphony’s adagio features a melancholy elegy to the masterful composer, who Bruckner idolized. The scherzo is a heavy-footed folkloric dance and features a crowing rooster via the trumpet, while the finale reprises a theme from the introduction.

The concert is conducted by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s previous chief conductor, now Conductor Laureate, Alan Gilbert (who is also the newly appointed chief conductor of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg). If you would like to hear him play the viola, you are welcome to Konserthuset on 19 January to hear the Philharmonic Up-Close concert subscription performance.

The Clarinet Quintet is one of Mozart’s most played and popular pieces, thanks in particular to its fantastically beautiful second movement. The inspiration came from one of Mozart’s best friends, clarinettist Anton Stadler. They became acquainted in Vienna in the early 1780s and belonged to the same Freemason order. Stadler inspired Mozart to compose the Clarinet Trio in E-Flat Major, the so-called Kegelstatt Trio, Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet. In one of his many letters, Mozart himself referred to the quintet as the Stadler Quintet.

Swedish composer Victoria Borisova-Ollas has roots in Russia and began her education at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She was at the centre of Konserthuset’s Composer Weekend in 2013 and received enormous acclaim for her opera Dracula at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Here, we will hear her Seven Singing Butterflies for clarinet and string quartet featuring clarinettist Johan Fransén, alternate section leader and member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 1997. Other participating philharmonic members include Daniela Bonfiglioli and Lola Torrente on violin, Vicki Powell on viola and Marie Macleod on cello.

Konserthuset Stockholm is one of Sweden’s great architectural masterpieces. Created during a period of expansion in Stockholm, by the Swedish architect Ivar Tengbom, it opened in 1926. Konserthuset Stockholm was built for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since the start been the dedicated venue for the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony as well as many other prestigious events.

The tour is in Swedish.

Konserthuset Stockholm is one of Sweden’s great architectural masterpieces. Created during a period of expansion in Stockholm, by the Swedish architect Ivar Tengbom, it opened in 1926. Konserthuset Stockholm was built for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since the start been the dedicated venue for the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony as well as many other prestigious events.

The tour is in Swedish.