New Friday with Borregaard & Rostamo Duo

New Friday with KammarensembleN

Since its inception in 1984, KammarensembleN has been one of the most important ensembles for contemporary music. Its members are distinguished instrumentalists, and the ensemble has performed at several major festivals for contemporary music, such as Ultima in Oslo, Gaudeamus Festival in Amsterdam, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and ISCM World Music Days in Stockholm and Hong Kong.Many composers have written directly for the ensemble, resulting in well over a hundred premieres over the years. Together with directors, lighting designers, and video artists, KammarensembleN has carried out a series of acclaimed concert series in Stockholm. The ensemble has also undertaken several tours and recorded several critically acclaimed CDs.For the anniversary concert, they take on Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen's Schnee – ten canons for nine instruments. It is music with crystalline clarity and evocative rhythms. The ten canons are presented in pairs, something Abrahamsen likens to seeing two versions in different colours of a painting with the same motif. For his sophisticated music, Abrahamsen has been awarded both the Nordic Council Music Prize and the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. He has also been a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since 2017.***New Friday is the series for anyone who is curious and interested in exploring the new music of our era. Come early, stay late – the bar will be open before and after the concert with drinks and appetizers.

New Friday with double ensembles

At this concert, we meet two saxophone quartets: Quasar Quatuor de Saxophones from Montreal and the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet. Both have been exploring contemporary music for decades and have toured worldwide. The quartets have also, individually, been responsible for commissioning and premiering numerous new pieces of music.There will also be a premiere tonight, featuring music for eight saxophones by Gordon Williamson, a Canadian composer based in Germany. Spanish composer José Evangelista was active in Montreal until his death in 2023, and his music often involves melodies layered on top of each other or echoing themselves.Swedish Tomner was recently acclaimed for her chamber opera Avskärmad (Shielded), in which she utilized AI technology. Here we hear Palindrome for saxophone quartet. Swedish composer Jenny Hettne often collaborates closely with the musicians. Her piece Swirls and Shades was written for both saxophone quartets performing tonight, and premiered in Montreal in 2019. The collaborative project is supported by Statens Kulturråd, Region Stockholm, Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.***New Friday is the series for anyone who is curious and interested in exploring the new music of our era. Come early, stay late – the bar will be open before and after the concert with drinks and appetizers.

New friday with string quartet and didgeridoo

For the first time in Konserthuset, we get to hear music composed for the ancient Australian wind instrument, the didgeridoo. Both in a newly written piece for strings, didgeridoo, and oboe d'amore by Loke Risberg, and in the intensely vibrant sixteenth string quartet by Australian Peter Sculthorpe, where the instrument complements the four strings. Playing the didgeridoo, we have Björn Bohlin, a multi-instrumentalist who previously played English horn in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.Gabriella Smith's Carrot Revolution is a tribute to the ability to find new ways to approach older artistic forms and expressions. "The piece is a patchwork of my very contrasting influences," she says.The concert begins with Ghiribizzi for violin and cello by the Moldovan-Austrian composer and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. On her series of curiously explorative "ghiribizzi," she says: "It's not a tribute to Paganini, but I borrowed the title from his peculiar pieces for violin and guitar." Ghiribizz roughly translates to whims, quirks."***New Friday is the series for anyone who is curious and interested in exploring the new music of our era. Come early, stay late – the bar will be open before and after the concert with drinks and appetizers.

Duo Violin and Cello

Duo Ruut

In the Finnish national epic »Kalevala«, the magical singer Väinämöinen makes a stringed plucked instrument from the jaws of a giant pike and a second one from birch wood. As he plays, all the animals of the forest come to him and even the people stop their work to listen to this Nordic Orpheus. The sounds of the so-called »kantele« – a box zither that is not only common in Finland, but also in Estonia and north-west Russia – enchant listeners to this day.

Duo Kravos

Good Friday Concert: tenebrae

On Good Friday, the acclaimed British vocal ensemble Tenebrae and its founder Nigel Short are heading on a musical pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. In his full-length a-cappella work »Path of Miracles«, Joby Talbot – who was born in Wimbledon in 1971 – has captured the special atmosphere of four spiritual sites along the Camino de Santiago. Based on Bible quotations and medieval sources, 17 independent vocal parts in seven languages and great stylistic diversity depict the legends of saints and miracles associated with this pilgrimage route. The English composer found his inspiration for the 2005 work – a commissioned piece written specially for Tenebrae – »on location«: »Over the course of ten days I watched little clouds of Pyrenean mist wafting through the medieval streets of Roncesvalles, marvelled at the gruesome reliquaries in austere Burgos, saw storks on church spires in León as the evening sun poured through acres of stained glass, and witnessed traditionally clad Galician villagers harvesting their fields with hand scythes in a manner unchanged for a millennium.« Having reached Santiago and touched the hollow in the pillar at the cathedral, he felt a special closeness to the many generations of pilgrims who had followed the same tradition. »The connection to the past seemed palpable, and it was the feeling I experienced at that moment that I resolved to try to express in the music.«

Piano//Duo EnsariSchuch

He loves her musical spontaneity and she appreciates his flair for special programmes: The Piano//Duo EnsariSchuch! Making music together as a piano duo requires not only musical skills, but also almost »blind« trust in each other. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that Gülru Ensari and Herbert Schuch also have a private connection: Both have been a married couple for nine years and have a daughter together. The two are an ideal constellation because they combine the advantages of different worlds: Herbert’s childhood in Romania, as well as Gülru’s Turkish roots – and can therefore come up with a wide range of musical colours. In their programme »Eternity«, the two shed light on the theme of eternity in music and seek answers to many questions: How does infinity explain itself? Which pieces make you forget space and time? Is redemption or nothingness waiting behind death? They approach these essential questions through the works of Brahms, Schubert, Ravel and Beethoven.

Lux Nova Duo

The Lux Nova Duo, with its distinctive combination of accordion and guitar, combines classical and folkloristic music from Latin America and Europe in an extraordinary concert experience. The pulsating rhythms of Cuban music, the mystical atmosphere of the Andes, the passion of Argentinian tango and the innovative interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpieces combine to create a unique musical experience. As a special highlight, new pieces inspired by Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica will be performed.

Duo Jazzical Class

It begins with the baroque Jean-Philippe Rameau and is far from over with George Gershwin's furious »I got rhythm«. »Jazzical Class« is Peter Fleckenstein, principal timpanist in the Gürzenich Orchestra, and clarinettist Žilvinas Brazauskas. As a duo, they have been cultivating the joyful clash of the most diverse genres since 2013. Connected by an entertaining moderation, their programme moves from classical music to tango to jazz, from »Little Green Cactus« to original compositions such as »Wartesaal« and back again with sophisticated arrangements and breakneck improvisations. The joy of playing and the humour with which they use their instruments is unmistakable: in addition to Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, vibraphone, xylophone, djembe and snare drum, they also use piano, voices and bodies. The audience can look forward to a rousing mix of classical, jazz and world music!