Programme

Homayoun Shajarian is one of the leading Persian classical singers as well as a brilliant instrumentalist. This concert will present a blend of classical Persian and western music, arranged and composed by brothers Sohrab and Tahmoures Pournazeri, who are also members of the band.

Homayoun grew up in a well-known musical family. His father is Mohammad Reza Shajarian, legendary master of the traditional Persian singing technique. At the age of five, Homayoun began studying the tombak, a Persian hand drum, and later the kamanche, which is an Oriental violin. The kamanche was also his primary instrument while studying at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. From the age of 10 he studied the traditional singing technique under his father, Mohammad Reza, and he has also participated in his father’s international tours, both on the tombak and as a singer.

Homayoun has guest-performed on numerous international stages and at festivals with his band, for example the Cologne Philharmony, World Music Institute in New York, Paris Theatre and Fez Festival in Morocco. He has also released several albums under his own name.

Don’t miss Iranian superstar Homayoun Shajarian who will take the stage at Konserthuset Stockholm with his masterful 16-person band.

The concert is a collaboration between Konserthuset Stockholm, Riksteatern and Farhang/Kista Världsmusikfestival.

Sir András Schiff has received countless international prizes for his masterful piano playing. He also frequently appears these days as a conductor and soloist, including at this concert with a focus on Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert.

The slow movement in Bach’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings is among the most beautiful pieces ever to be composed. It was played in a famous scene in Woody Allen’s 1986 movie Hannah and her Sisters, in which Max von Sydow also had a role as an artist. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is playful and masterful, with a delightfully lyrical and melodic second movement.

The overture to Rosamunde contains one of Schubert’s best-known melodies. He thought so much of it, in fact, that he reused it in one of his string quartets, which is thus entitled the Rosamunde Quartet, and in an Impromptu for Piano, where it is a theme in six variations.

Haydn’s twelve final symphonies – he composed 104 of them – are thought to be his best. His position with Furst Esterházy had finally come to an end and he was able to take other assignments. An offer from a London-based impresario to compose twelve symphonies was too good to turn down. His masterful Symphony No. 97 is the fifth of the twelve London Symphonies, composed just a few years before Beethoven’s first piano concerto. The similarities in the music are also tangible.

Through Konserthuset’s popular organ matinée subscription, audiences get to hear leading organists perform on the venue’s own organ, which with its 6,100 pipes is one of the largest in Europe. At this concert we will hear Russian-Swedish Kristina Shtegman on piano and Konserthuset’s organist Ulf Norberg.

Nicolò Paganini is perhaps the world’s best-known violinist of all time, eternally remembered for his virtuosity. Today’s organ concert will begin with Rachmaninoff’s 24 variations of Paganini’s music for solo violin. Initially, the pieces were intended for piano and orchestra and most closely resemble a piano concerto in one movement. Rachmaninoff himself performed the world premiere in the US with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and they also made the first recording of the piece in 1934.

Today the soloist will be Kristina Shtegman, a Russian-Swedish concert pianist and organist whose playing field is the entire world. She studied at the music conservatories in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and then continued her studies in Stockholm under organ master and improviser Gunnar Idenstam.

Ulf Norberg has been tasked, among other things, with creating the programme for the organ matinée subscription. When he is not treating audiences to performances on Konserthuset’s huge organ, he can be heard performing in the Hedvig Eleonora Church.

Shtegman and Norberg also present Marcel Dupré’s Ballade for Piano and Organ from 1932, dedicated to Dupré’s daughter Marguerite.

Sir András Schiff has received countless international prizes for his masterful piano playing. He also frequently appears these days as a conductor and soloist, including at this concert with a focus on Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Schubert.

The slow movement in Bach’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings is among the most beautiful pieces ever to be composed. It was played in a famous scene in Woody Allen’s 1986 movie Hannah and her Sisters, in which Max von Sydow also had a role as an artist. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 is playful and masterful, with a delightfully lyrical and melodic second movement.

The overture to Rosamunde contains one of Schubert’s best-known melodies. He thought so much of it, in fact, that he reused it in one of his string quartets, which is thus entitled the Rosamunde Quartet, and in an Impromptu for Piano, where it is a theme in six variations.

Haydn’s twelve final symphonies – he composed 104 of them – are thought to be his best. His position with Furst Esterházy had finally come to an end and he was able to take other assignments. An offer from a London-based impresario to compose twelve symphonies was too good to turn down. His masterful Symphony No. 97 is the fifth of the twelve London Symphonies, composed just a few years before Beethoven’s first piano concerto. The similarities in the music are also tangible.

Both philharmonic members, Catarina Skoog Aquilonius, viola, and Åsa Strid, cello, are accompanied by violinist Karin Eriksson and pianist Karin Haglund in this performance of breathtaking piano quartets.

Mozart rarely composed if the work was not commissioned. But there are exceptions, such as the Piano Quartet in E-flat Major. After receiving an initial quartet in G minor, the publisher released Mozart from the assignment of writing another. He thought the music was excessively intricate. Mozart chose to compose this second piano quartet regardless, for himself. So here, we get to hear Mozart in full freedom, effervescent, enthusiastic and filled with whimsy. 

Gustav Mahler is associated primarily with his major orchestral works, but in his youth he also composed several chamber music pieces. Not much has been preserved. This first movement of a piano quartet is an exception. To be sure, Mahler’s major symphonies are fantastic, but already here we can detect his ability to draw magic out of a piece of music. This is grandiose music in small format – evocative, dreamy and romantic.

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.

Singer and poet Shahkar Bineshpajooh is one of Iran’s most acclaimed musicians outside of that country. In recent years, he has made numerous appearances that have garnered significant attention, including in the historic Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Logan Hall in London, the opera in Kiev and concerts in the US and Canada, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and in Los Angeles with singer Andrea Bocelli.

Shahkar was the youngest doctoral student ever admitted to the University of Tehran, where he studied cultural geography, urban planning and also composition: he had discovered his love of popular music and poetry. He earned a PhD and released several albums and poetry collections, but when his popularity grew among the Iranian people, the government began to censor his music and poetry. When he was no longer permitted to teach at the university as a result of his political views, he decided to immigrate to the US and he has now been based in Los Angeles for a long time.

Shahkar Bineshpajooh tours worldwide and since moving to the US, he has published several poetry collections and top-selling albums. At this dazzling concert, we will get to hear him live accompanied by both an orchestra and a band. 

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.

Since 2015, Christian Lindberg has been chief conductor of the Israel NK Orchestra, which is now visiting Konserthuset Stockholm for the first time ever. The ensemble has been ranked by the Israeli Ministry of Culture as the country’s most prominent orchestra, side by side with the Israel Philharmonic. Lindberg is one of Sweden’s most established names in music internationally. His career as a trombone player is unparalleled and in 2015, British Classical FM named him “The Greatest Brass Player in History.”

He appears as a soloist and a conductor in his own trombone concerto Black Hawk Eagle and in Per Egland’s Variations on Hava Nagila for trombone, mandolin and orchestra. We will also get to experience the fascinating birds of paradise portrayed musically by Andrea Tarrodi, who is incidentally Christian Lindberg’s daughter.

The concert will begin with music by Mozart, the festive Symphony No. 34 with its fanfare-filled opening. It was the final symphony he composed before moving from Salzburg to Vienna. Both the first and last movements are reminiscent of opera and serve as instrumental scenery. The world premiere in Vienna in 1781, a performance described as “magnifique” by Mozart in a letter to his father Leopold, gave his career a fresh boost in the capital city.

To conclude we will hear Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, one of the very first neoclassical works. This piece shimmers with classical Viennese style, in a category that often includes the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Nevertheless, something about the symphony makes it seem as if it simply could not have been composed in 18th century. Prokofiev’s distinctive sound is heard in the music, which is an impression of a typical symphony by Haydn.

One of Sweden’s most international artists. Programme: Jazz, Pop, Brazil

“My first show – Sylvia 24 – took place on 1 September 1969. It has been exactly 50 years since then. That is one reason why I am inviting listeners to an anniversary show in Grünewald Hall at Konserthuset Stockholm. Another more important reason is that music is still a major focus in my life. The desire, urge and dedication to constantly evolve together with incredible musicians.”

These are the words of Sylvia Vrethammar, one of Sweden’s most international artists with countless successful tours and guest performances in Scandinavia, Germany, England, China and the US behind her.

The concert’s emphasis on jazz and pop with hints of Brazil connect to her long career. In the radio success The World is Calling, we can also detect Sylvia’s commitment to our shared planet. In addition, we will hear songs by Paul McCartney, Thelonius Monk, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, George Gershwin and more from her new album Vortex, which is presented live here for the very first time.

Grünewald Hall is special to Sylvia Vrethammar. At a concert on 24 April 1961, with students from Richard Andersson’s music school, she sat at the piano and performed Sonatina in E-flat Major by Clementi. Now with her return, 58 years later, the song will be a focus.