Blåsarsymfonikerna – Shostakovich and Friends

This year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Dmitri Shostakovich. Blåsarsymfonikerna celebrate the occasion with a tribute concert centred on the finale from his Symphony No. 5 – one of the most charged works of the 20th century, composed in the shadow of the Soviet dictatorship. The music gives voice to resistance under oppression, to triumph that conceals tragedy, to hope in the face of coercion, and to the irrepressible human longing for freedom.

The dramatic final movement is framed by music by Shostakovich’s kindred spirits and sources of inspiration: Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler and Galina Ustvolskaya.

Blåsarsymfonikerna are led by the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Emil Eliasson. He has conducted numerous orchestras throughout the Nordic countries, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and Copenhagen Phil, among many others. He has also worked on opera productions at institutions such as the Royal Swedish Opera, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Opernhaus Zürich, Wermland Opera, the Folkoperan and Vadstena-Akademien.