Ethel Smyth’s Double Concerto

Artist replacement due to illness.

Conductor Laureate Sakari Oramo was obliged to cancel his participation with short notice, and is replaced by Tobias Ringborg. The programme remains unchanged. Tobias Ringborg is not only an internationally acclaimed conductor but also an accomplised violinist. He has led the orchestra on many occasions, the last time in connection with the Stenhammar festival in the fall of 2021.

During her lifetime, Ethel Smyth was an acclaimed personality. She was a composer and one of the leading figures of the suffragette movement fighting for women’s right to vote in England. She was one of the first female composers to be appointed Dame of the British Empire. 

Her concerto for the unusual combination of violin and horn is romantic, passionate, and filled with melodic enchantment. The soloists are the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s concertmaster Andrej Power, violin, and Martin Schöpfer, solo horn player. 

The symphony in D minor is César Franck’s most significant work. The music unites a splendid German sound with French esprit. Franck was born in Liège, Belgium, and moved to Paris where he was a teacher and organist. His students encouraged him to compose the symphony in D minor, which he dedicated to his student Henri Duparc, who himself became a highly prolific composer.