Svensk Musikvår, a Swedish festival for art music, will be held this year on March 20-26 in Stockholm. It is shaping up to be an outstanding festival!
Nine venues will offer 35 concerts (most with free admission) as well as lectures and seminars, also free of charge. Music by no fewer than 116 composers will be performed! Audiences will hear 18 world premieres and the first Swedish performances of many other pieces.
Possibly few events have ever brought together quite this much new music! The music of our time can sound in so many VERY different ways. A sense of enthusiasm and a sheer joy in music are everywhere. For that, many thanks to the festival organizers, including the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet and tireless festival director Jörgen Pettersson.
Rehnqvist the featured composer
The festival’s featured composer is Karin Rehnqvist. She is one of Sweden’s most distinguished composers as well as a colorful debater, a driving force and inspiration within her field, and a professor of composition at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm.
“Karin Rehnqvist was the natural choice for our featured composer. So many of our ensembles more or less insisted on playing her music! She will also hold a seminar on the art of composition,” said festival director Jörgen Pettersson.
Rehnqvist is an internationally recognized composer whose music has been performed by leading orchestras and ensembles around the world. Her collaboration with the Kronos Quartet has been especially well received.
Incredibly energizing
“It’s terrific fun that the ensembles want to play my music. For any music to live on, musicians have to like playing it. To be the featured composer is a great honor. And the festival is so diverse aesthetically and represents so many generations of composers – it’s incredibly energizing,” said Rehnqvist.
Photo: Lena Tollstoy/photo mount: P-Å Byström
