Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal music

Mahler and Nielsen

Nina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.

The concert begins with Demon by the British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989) – a co-commissioned work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra premiered in 2023 by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She found inspiration in old folk tales from the British Isles, chilling stories where a demon can manifest anywhere - here as both menacing and playful orchestral music.

Menacing indeed. Mahler's heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder – Songs on the Death of Children – has tragic points of connection with Mahler's own life, and the composition would also come to seem like a premonition: a few years later, Mahler's eldest daughter Maria died. The poems by Friedrich Rückert that Mahler chose deal with the parents' grieving process and the slow reconciliation with a painful reality. The world-renowned Nina Stemme is the soloist in this poignant music.

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in this program, which concludes with Carl Nielsen. Nielsen's Fourth Symphony is subtitled "Det uudslukkelige" (The Inextinguishable). It's dramatic music written in the midst of the First World War, famous in part for its duel between two timpanists.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Nina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.

Wednesday 12 March 2025 19.00

Ends approximately 21.00

Price:

145-470 SEK

The concert begins with Demon by the British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989) – a co-commissioned work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra premiered in 2023 by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She found inspiration in old folk tales from the British Isles, chilling stories where a demon can manifest anywhere - here as both menacing and playful orchestral music.

Menacing indeed. Mahler's heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder – Songs on the Death of Children – has tragic points of connection with Mahler's own life, and the composition would also come to seem like a premonition: a few years later, Mahler's eldest daughter Maria died. The poems by Friedrich Rückert that Mahler chose deal with the parents' grieving process and the slow reconciliation with a painful reality. The world-renowned Nina Stemme is the soloist in this poignant music.

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in this program, which concludes with Carl Nielsen. Nielsen's Fourth Symphony is subtitled "Det uudslukkelige" (The Inextinguishable). It's dramatic music written in the midst of the First World War, famous in part for its duel between two timpanists.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

  • The music

    Approximate times
  • Freya Waley-Cohen Demon (The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras joint commisson)
    10 min
  • Gustav Mahler Kindertotenlieder
    26 min
  • Intermission
    25 min
  • Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 4 ’’The Inextinguishable’’
    37 min
  • Participants

  • Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Ryan Bancroft conductor
  • Nina Stemme soprano

Wednesday 12 March 2025 19.00

Ends approximately 21.00

Price:

145-470 SEK



Other occasions


”Dancing conductor bodes well for the philharmonic”, wrote Svenska Dagbladet following the Nobel Prize Concert of 2021. Experience concert films with Ryan Bancroft and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Useful information for your visit.

Choose from several classical Swedish dishes, soups, and wraps. Pre-order your meal, up to 48 hours before the start of the concert.