Guesting ensembles

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra visits Konserthuset under the baton of its Chief Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. They are joined by the celebrated Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, internationally acclaimed by both audiences and critics for his beautiful touch and boundless virtuosity.

Together, they present Frédéric Chopin's beloved First Piano Concerto. For Chopin, the piano always took centre stage. His nocturnes, études, mazurkas, polonaises, and impromptus have captivated listeners ever since he charmed audiences in the salons of Paris, or at the few concerts he gave during his all-too-short life. The orchestra plays a subordinate role even in the piano concerto – it is the soloist who shines with imaginative passages, beautiful bel canto melodies, and swirling dances.

Regarding what would become his final symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote in a letter to his brother Anatoly: "I am now completely absorbed in the new work and find it difficult to tear myself away from it. I believe it will be one of my best works. I must finish it as soon as possible." The symphony indeed became one of the great musical masterpieces, filled with profound darkness and exalted beauty.

The atmospheric and deeply spiritual music of Arvo Pärt has made him one of the world’s most performed and beloved composers. Alfred Schnittke, meanwhile, saw himself as a musical link to Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. This concert features works by both composers – music rich in emotional intensity. Arvo Pärt turns 90 this year (on 11 September).

Dopo la vittoria was commissioned from Pärt by the city of Milan, composed in 1997 to mark the 1600th anniversary of the death of Ambrose of Milan. The Beatitudes for choir and organ was the very first work in which Pärt set an English text. We also hear Magnificat – one of Pärt’s most popular choral pieces. Following an organ improvisation by Mattias Wager, organist of Stockholm Cathedral, the Pärt section of the concert concludes with the heavenly Nunc dimittis.

Schnittke’s music is often characterised by surprising stylistic juxtapositions – the rhythmic drive of the Baroque overlaid with more modern sounds. In his Concerto for Choir, a transcendent atmosphere is created by powerful bass lines and sopranos that seem to soar into a whistling register. Schnittke was the featured composer at Konserthuset’s Composer Festival in 1989.

The music in this concert calls for a world-class choir to fully realise its potential – and here we hear the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, conducted by British choral director Harry Bradford, who in 2021 took second place in the prestigious Eric Ericson Award, presented by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

The second concert in the Composer Festival dedicated to Klas Torstensson features two works from the trilogy A Cycle of the North, which consists of the orchestral pieces The Mainland, The Polar Sea, and The Heaven. “A child’s feet on a sun-warmed path; a solitary man (perhaps the polar explorer, engineer Andrée from my opera The Expedition?) on an endless frozen sea; a steep road upward – perhaps to the sky.”

It was between 2007 and 2012 that he composed the trilogy A cycle of the North. The first work, Fastlandet – The Mainland, premiered at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, was a commission related to a Sibelius theme. In The Mainland, the cor anglais quotes a few notes from The Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius. Like Sibelius, Torstensson had witnessed the beautiful sight of swans in flight, near his cottage in Småland. In addition to the swan motif, we also hear the sound of thin birch twigs snapping.

Himmelen – The Heaven – was co-commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered at Konserthuset in 2015, conducted by Sakari Oramo. The work is inspired by three visual artworks from different eras: Anselm Kiefer’s monumental Am Anfang, Gustave Doré’s Jacob’s Ladder – illustrating the dream of Jacob from Genesis 28 – and William Blake’s Jacob’s Ladder. Could the final music box-like passage suggest a glimpse of heavenly peace?

Between The Mainland and The Heaven, we hear the festival’s earliest work, also rich with references to nature. und eine Springflut... (“and a spring tide…”) from 1974 was composed by a 23-year-old Torstensson. The title comes from the text of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire: “And a spring tide flooded the quiet horizon…” There are passages in the music, Torstensson says, that overflow with notes – like a spring tide.

The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra appears as guest under the baton of Fredrik Burstedt. The concert opens with Charles Ives’s evocative The Unanswered Question – a piece that fascinated the young Klas Torstensson.

Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.

Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang has, for many years, been one of the world’s most sought-after soloists – known for her unique interpretations and dazzling virtuosity. She made her Konserthuset Stockholm debut in 2009 with the Oslo Philharmonic, and her first appearance with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra came in 2014. Since then, she has returned to the Konserthuset stage on several occasions.

This time, she appears together with the visiting Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of their charismatic Chief Conductor, Martin Fröst. The programme features Robert Schumann’s deeply compelling Violin Concerto – a work that shifts between sombre undertones and life-affirming joy. It demands much from the soloist, not only in its virtuosic passages, but also in the slow movements that pulse with Schumann’s own sense of melancholy.

The concert concludes with Johannes Brahms’ magnificent First Symphony – a work that took many years to complete. Brahms was, at times, paralysed by the pressure of living up to the legacy of his great predecessor, Beethoven. But the result was truly a masterful symphonic achievement of striking beauty.

When Jean Sibelius was working on his intensely beautiful and dramatic Fifth Symphony, he already sensed he was creating something remarkable. “I’ve received a wonderful theme,” he noted in his diary. The inspiration came from seeing sixteen swans in flight – a moment that gave rise to the magnificent theme of the symphony’s final movement. “One of the great experiences of my life! My God, what beauty.”

We now experience Sibelius’ most performed and beloved symphony with the visiting Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pekka Kuusisto – the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor. Known for his imaginative and surprising programming, Kuusisto has invited singer Katarina Barruk to join this concert. A few years ago, she released her second album, Ruhttuo.

Her evocative songs, sung in Ume Sámi – her mother tongue – are here given a magnificent symphonic setting. “I write all my music in the world’s most beautiful language, Ume Sámi. For me, it’s not a choice. I’m not doing it to make a point – it’s about being myself. Writing music in Ume Sámi is my way of inviting friends and audiences into my universe,” says Katarina Barruk.

Soprano and Court Singer Elin Rombo is one of Sweden’s brightest stars on the international opera scene. A cherished guest at Konserthuset Stockholm, she now returns to the main stage – this time together with the visiting Västerås Sinfonietta under the baton of Chief Conductor Simon Crawford-Phillips.

She performs Benjamin Britten’s visionary and ecstatic Les illuminations, set to texts by Arthur Rimbaud – music that is in constant flux, shifting from French-tinged elegance to introspective reflection and outward drama. She also takes on French composer Ernest Chausson’s emotionally charged Chanson perpétuelle. Deep emotions are also at the heart of Swedish composer Daniel Börtz’s music – represented here by one of his Concerti grossi.

The concert opens with Britten’s Young Apollo, in which the solo piano leads with powerful, ascending gestures, supported by string orchestra and solo string quartet. It concludes with Poulenc’s Sinfonietta – a work that is both light-heartedly idyllic and brusque, with touches of Mozart and Tchaikovsky, though the final movement brings to mind a delightfully exuberant variety show.