Konserthuset Stockholm

Through Konserthuset’s popular organ matinée subscription, audiences get to hear Sweden’s leading organists play the building’s organ – one of the largest in Europe, with 6,100 pipes. 

Take this chance to hear music for organ and piano – a highly unusual and exciting combination. Ulf Norberg is familiar to Konserthuset’s audience as the house organist, but at this organ matinée, we hear him on the piano. On the organ we hear Gregory Lloyd, organist at Katarina parish. 

Modest Mussorgsky composed Pictures at an Exhibition as a piano suite. The suite consists of ten parts, each of which is linked to a painting by Mussorgsky’s friend, Victor Hartmann. The work is performed here in a special arrangement for organ and piano. We also hear César Franck’s Symphonic Variations, originally composed for piano and orchestra. It has been called “an error-free piece, as close to perfection as a human composer can hope to come.” 

Jörgen Pettersson is among the most established saxophonists on the international contemporary music scene. He participates in many concerts and festivals worldwide, both as a soloist and in various ensembles. Among other things, he is a driving force in the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet and KammarensembleN, and the leader of Svensk Musikvår since the re-launch of the festival in 2016.

Jörgen Pettersson’s close collaboration with Swedish and international composers has resulted in over 1 000 solo concerts, chamber pieces and electroacoustic works dedicated to him. On this occasion, he has invited his musician and composer friends Magnus Andersson, guitar; Bengt-Åke Lundin, piano; and Ivo Nilsson, trombone; who along with him offer an innovative, surprising and varied programme with music by Jan. W Morthenson, Leilei Tian, André Chini, Víctor Varela and Ivo Nilsson.

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New Friday is the subscription for forward-looking listeners who want to open their ears to the innovative music of today. Come early, stay late – the bar will be open before and after the concert with drinks and appetizers.

Konserthuset Stockholm at Hötorget 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 guided tour is held in Swedish.
• Maximum 25 persons/tour.

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With her dazzling technique and natural stage presence, Dutch Janine Jansen has long been among the best of the best international star violinists. And pianist Denis Kozhukhin combines unparalleled technique with a mature musicality and the ability to create a sense of intimacy with the audience. Both have performed at Konserthuset Stockholm separately before, and now we hear them together. 

In Schubert’s relaxed and playful Gran Duo sonata, both instruments come into bloom. The piano part is elegant and energetic, while the violin expands into beautifully melodic lines. For contrast, we hear Brahms’ third sonata for violin and piano, the first piece he composed in a minor key. The style here is darker, more dramatic.

Beethoven dedicated his ninth sonata for violin and piano to French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer. Beethoven called it “Sonata for piano and obligatory violin, written in a most concertante style, just like a concerto,” but it has long been known as the Kreutzer Sonata. The sonata inspired author Leo Tolstoy to write the passionate autobiographical novella with the same title as Beethoven’s piece.