Programme

Welcome to a soup concert dedicated to the wonderful music country of Czechia. While most people are familiar with and enjoy Dvořák, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's cellist Hanna Dahlkvist and guest pianist Darya Tchaikovsky show that there is so much more.

First, we hear music by the extremely talented conductor and composer Vítezslava Kaprálová (1915–40). She passed away at the age of 25 from tuberculosis but managed to compose an impressive amount of music. She also wrote a series of excellent chamber music works, such as the explosive Deux ritournelles for cello and piano.

Vítezslava Kaprálová studied with Bohuslav Martinu, and from him, we hear the brightly colored and rhythmically vibrant third cello sonata – one of his most beloved pieces. Martinu, in turn, studied with Josef Suk, who was Antonín Dvořák's favorite student at the Prague Conservatory. They also got to know each other personally, and Josef Suk later married Dvořák's daughter Otilie. Suk's music is characterized by a flowing melody and lyrical passion, as heard in his Ballad and Serenade, which at times recalls Brahms's late chamber music.

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Menu: Broccoli soup with parmesan. The soup is served with sourdough bread, crispbread, butter, mineral water/light beer, coffee/tea, and a piece of chocolate. Wine and beer available for purchase for those who wish.

All soups are lactose- and gluten-free. Please inform us of any special dietary requests when booking.

Konserthuset Stockholm at Hötorget is one of Sweden’s great architectural masterpieces. Created during a period of expansion in Stockholm, by the Swedish architect Ivar Tengbom, it opened in 1926. Konserthuset Stockholm was built for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since the start been the dedicated venue for the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony as well as many other prestigious events.

• The guided tour is held in Swedish.
• Maximum 25 persons/tour.

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Subtitles
Subtitles in English and Swedish is activated by using the CC control in the video player.

The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir was founded in 1945 by the then 27-year-old Eric Ericson, and has since then occupied a central place in Swedish and international music life. The choir ranks among the absolute top tier of professional ensembles internationally, and since 2003, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir has had a close collaboration with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at Konserthuset.

The choir's repertoire is very broad and spans from the Renaissance to the present day. In this concert, the choir has chosen to focus on the great German-speaking Romantic composers such as Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Johannes Brahms, but also the lesser-known Peter Cornelius.

The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir is led by guest conductor Justin Doyle, chief conductor of the prestigious RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, where he also works as a professor of choral conducting at the Hanns Eisler School of Music.

Tchaikovsky composed his fifth symphony during a few summer months in 1888. He had complained of lacking inspiration in the spring: "Am I burned out? No ideas, no desire?" But the fifth became a vital, emotionally charged, and in many respects brilliant symphony. It premiered under the composer's direction at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in November of the same year.

The concert begins with Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi's Liguria, music that takes us on a journey between five small fishing villages clinging to the cliffs along Italy's northwestern coast.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Sibelius's violin concerto is now the most performed of all violin concertos from the 20th century. Yet its musical language belongs to the late 19th century, and the music is warm and lyrical, dramatic and melancholic. Sibelius, himself a violinist, possibly wrote the concerto he himself would have wanted to play – albeit on a technical level far beyond his own. In this way, the violin concerto can be seen as a farewell to the youthful dreams of a career as a violin virtuoso. It is among the more challenging in the genre, as many violinists have attested.

Taking on the challenge is the young award-winning violinist Maria Ioudenitch. In 2021, she won first prize in the prestigious Ysaÿe International Music Competition and the same year also the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition. Maria Ioudenitch was born in Russia but moved to the USA with her family at the age of two.

Tchaikovsky composed his fifth symphony during a few summer months in 1888. He had complained about a lack of inspiration in the spring: "Am I burned out? No ideas, no desire?" But the fifth became a vital, emotionally charged, and in many respects brilliant symphony. It premiered under the composer's direction at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in November of the same year.

The concert opens with the Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodis's Liguria, music that takes us on a journey between five small fishing villages clinging to the cliffs along Italy's northwest coast.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Konserthuset Stockholm at Hötorget is one of Sweden’s great architectural masterpieces. Created during a period of expansion in Stockholm, by the Swedish architect Ivar Tengbom, it opened in 1926. Konserthuset Stockholm was built for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since the start been the dedicated venue for the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony as well as many other prestigious events.

• The guided tour is held in Swedish.
• Maximum 25 persons/tour.

***

Subtitles
Subtitles in English and Swedish is activated by using the CC control in the video player.

The New York-based string quartet Brooklyn Rider has been attracting a wide audience since its inception in 2005 with concerts that often cross genres. They visited Konserthuset for a highly acclaimed concert in 2014 and also performed at Fotografiska. All in line with the ensemble's desire to break away from the traditional and familiar.

During their eagerly awaited return to Konserthuset, the programme ranges from British Baroque to French Betsy Jolas's third string quartet from 1973, which, in nine parts, explores the mysterious universe of music. A completely different character is found in Mozart's String Quartet in C Major, often called the Dissonant Quartet due to its long and striking introduction, which today we do not find particularly dissonant.

After Arvo Pärt's meditative Solfeggio, Brooklyn Rider concludes with Brahms's wonderful first string quartet with its remarkable coherence. The opening and closing movements are characterized by a delightful and fervent temperament, with tender and luminous music in between.

Växjö-based Musica Vitae joins us accompanied by the British violinist and conductor Hugo Ticciati, who is active in Sweden. He founded the O/Modernt festival in 2011, known for its innovative and cross-genre programming, which also characterizes his concert with Musica Vitae.

The first part of the concert presents music infused with religious reverie. We hear the mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen in Vos flores rosarum and wordless violin song in Arvo Pärt's Fratres. Additionally, two meditations on the theme of the suffering mother: John Tavener's Mother of God, Here I Stand from The Veil of the Temple, and Lera Auerbach's Sogno di Stabat Mater (Dream of Stabat Mater). 

After the interval, the mood shifts from spiritual contemplation to exalted rapture. In the enigmatically dancing Aksak and Ciphers, Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer has encoded both Brahms and family members in the score. This is followed by a musical dialogue between Philip Glass's baroque-inspired Symphony No. 3 and three arrangements of songs from the iconic grunge rock band Nirvana's album Nevermind. Bridging the gap between the baroque and contemporary rock music is Purcell’s Cold Song from his semi-opera The Fairy-Queen.

Through Konserthuset’s popular organ matinée subscription, audiences get to hear Sweden’s leading organists play the building’s organ – one of the largest in Europe, with 6,100 pipes. 

Latvian Ligita Sneibe is trained as an organist and composer at the Music Academy in Riga, and also holds an organ diploma from the School of Music in Piteå. She has performed around the world but is now most active in Sweden and Latvia, where she often plays on the famous Walcker organ in Riga Cathedral.

Ligita Sneibe begins with music from 2023 by her compatriot Indra Riše: excerpts from Natura siderum, or The Nature of Stars. It's about music inspired by human psychological traits according to the zodiac signs. Three of the twelve parts are composed for organ solo: Libra, Capricorn, and Leo.

We also hear Bach's magnificent and virtuosic Toccata and Fugue in F major and finally music by Naji Hakim, Chant de Joie – Song of Joy. Hakim was born in Beirut but is active in Paris, where he succeeded Olivier Messiaen as organist at Trinité Church some 30 years ago.

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The bar is open before and after the concert.

You are welcome to eat or drink something before or after the organ concert. The bar in the Main Foyer is open at 11.45–12.15 and 13.15–14.15, offering a variety of delicious food and drinks in our beautiful surroundings.

For children 3–5 years old.

Get close to the musicians in the Grünewald Hall – and discover the orchestra's woodwind instruments in a classical concert with listening games, together with a music teacher. 

After this approx. 30-minute concert, there is a chance to try out different instruments in the foyer.