The Rake’s Progress According to Barbara Hannigan
Igor Stravinsky’s neo-classical opera from 1951 is a tale about the rise and fall of a young man. Renowned Canadian opera singer and conductor Barbara Hannigan leads this semi-staged performance directed by Josie Daxter with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir, and soloists from the international mentorship initiative Equilibrium Young Artists.
Participants
For more than 90 years, the Swedish Radio Choir has contributed to the development of the Swedish a cappella tradition. Under the leadership of legendary conductor Eric Ericson, the choir earned great international renown. It is still hailed as one of the best choirs in the world. The choir members’ ability to switch between powerful solo performances and seamlessly integrating themselves in the ensemble creates a unique and dynamic instrument praised by critics and music lovers alike, as well as by the many guest conductors who explore and challenge the choir’s possibilities.
Permanent home of the Swedish Radio Choir since 1979 is Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio’s concert hall. In addition to the seated audience, the choir reaches millions of listeners on the radio and the web through Klassiska konserten i P2. Several concerts are also broadcast and streamed on Berwaldhallen Play, offering the audience more opportunities to come as close as possible to one of the world’s top choirs.
With the 2020–2021 season, Kaspars Putniņš begins his tenure as the tenth Music Director of the Swedish Radio Choir. Since January 2019, Marc Korovitch is the choirmaster of the Swedish Radio Choir with responsibility for the ensemble’s continued artistic development. Two of the orchestra’s former Music Directors, Tõnu Kaljuste and Peter Dijkstra, were appointed Conductors Laureate in November 2019. Both maintain a close relationship with the choir and make regular guest appearances.
The Swedish Radio Choir was founded the same year as the Swedish Radio Service began its broadcasts and the choir had its first concert in May 1925. Right from the start, the choir had high ambitions with a conscious aim to perform contemporary music.
The Swedish Chamber Orchestra was established in Örebro in 1995 with high ambitions from the outset. In the autumn of 1997, Thomas Dausgaard became the orchestra’s Chief Conductor, initiating a project that became instrumental in the ensemble’s artistic development: recording Beethoven’s complete orchestral works. During these recordings, the orchestra found its unique sound – a small orchestra of merely 39 members able to sound like an entire symphony orchestra.
The orchestra has regularly toured all over the world, earning rave reviews, in countries like Japan, United States, Great Britain, Austria and France, performing at the BBC Proms as well as the Salzburg Festival. Its extensive collaboration with conductors like Thomas Dausgaard and Andrew Manze has given the orchestra a wide repertoire and an equal comfort in baroque and classic as well as modern music, where close relationships with composers like HK Gruber and Brett Dean have also been important contributions.
In the autumn of 2019, clarinettist and conductor Martin Fröst became the orchestra’s new Chief Conductor. Together they will focus on a music journey that explores Mozart’s historic footprint in Europe through his travels. The project will be the orchestra’s first comprehensive green tour initiative, making extensive use of rail travel across Europe.
Approximate duration: 3 hrs with intermission
Tickets
More concerts
The Swedish Radio Choir & Nils Landgren: Sonnets of Darkness and Love
Sven-David Sandström’s Sonnets of Darkness and Love with trombonist and vocalist Nils Landgren and the Swedish Radio Choir under music director Kaspars Putniņš.
MISSA SOLEMNIS WITH BLOMSTEDT
Conductor laureate Herbert Blomstedt leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Choir and world-class soloists in Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonic Missa solemnis.
BACH´S MASS IN B-MINOR
Kaspars Putniņš leads the Swedish Radio Choir and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental mass in B minor.