Stockholm Sensations

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Sakari Oramo explore mighty symphonic works as part of vibrant 2016-17 season, including Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Messiaen’s Turangalîla and Varèse’s

Amériques

Compelling season includes Stockholm International Composer Festival focus on the music of Oliver Knussen, world premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No.2 and substantial spread of works by

women composers

Guest artists include Christoph Eschenbach, Janine Jansen, Jonas Kaufmann, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniil Trifonov and Yuja Wang

Adventurous programming, enduring landmarks of the symphonic repertoire and thrilling contemporary works are among the distinctive elements contained within the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2016-17 season. The Swedish ensemble is set to elevate its already high international status with a programme of tremendous richness and variety, emblematic of the innate curiosity and imagination of its Chief Conductor and Artistic Adviser, Sakari Oramo. Their concerts together at Stockholm’s Konserthuset amount to a season-long survey of key compositions from the late 1890s to the early 1950s, complete with Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony and the orchestra’s first encounter with Edgard Varèse’s Amériques. Oramo’s selection of symphonic blockbusters will be presented in company with rarely heard scores and significant new pieces. The RSPO’s 2016-17 schedule holds a strong emphasis on contemporary music in general and work by women composers in particular. Oliver Knussen occupies the heart of the orchestra’s annual Stockholm International Composer Festival, as composer and conductor. The season also comprises a major new commission from Anders Hillborg and more than thirty pieces by female composers, Lera Auerbach, Grażyna Bacewicz, Sally Beamish, Victoria Borisova-Ollas, Lili Boulanger, Doreen Carwithen and Paula af Malmborg Ward among them. Sakari Oramo opens the season in Stockholm on Thursday 22 September with a programme guaranteed to display the RSPO’s virtuosity and artistry. The concert begins with Berlioz’s Tristia, a group of three intense miniatures for orchestra and chorus inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and unfolds with Mendelssohn’s impassioned Piano Concerto No.1, with Swedish pianist Niklas Sivelöv as soloist. The spirit of Romanticism powers the programme to its conclusion in Richard Strauss’s autobiographical tone poem Ein Heldenleben. The programme will be repeated on Saturday 24 September. “The quality of works, the diversity of repertoire and the quality of playing are at the heart of what th is orchestra is about,” comments Sakari Oramo. “Those are very basic things that can never be taken for granted. Orchestral players love Ein Heldenleben. I think it is important to satisfy that love every so often and I am happy that we will open our subscription series with Strauss’s score. It is exhilarating and very beautifully written. Although Heldenleben contains many passages for a vast number of instruments, Strauss often uses the orchestra like a big chamber ensemble. It is a great vehicle to develop an orchestra’s playing and listening culture.” The music of Anders Hillborg has become essential to the RSPO’s repertoire in recent years. He was subject of the 2014 Stockholm International Composer Festival and featured prominently throughout the orchestra’s 2015-16 season. Sweden’s foremost composer, described by The Daily Telegraph as a weaver of “elaborate soundscapes”, created his Violin Concerto No.2 with Lisa Batiashvili in mind. She will give the work’s world premiere performances on Thursday 20 & Saturday 22 October in partnership with the RSPO and Sakari Oramo. “Anders always writes very well and in a language that is totally personal to him,” the conductor notes. “We are looking forward to bringing his new concerto to life with Lisa.” Open Ground by Russian-born, Swedish-based Victoria Borisova-Ollas will preface Hillborg’s piece, while Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10 will occupy the concert’s second half. Oramo and the RSPO will also perform, among other large-scale works, Bruckner’s Symphony No.5 (Thursday 27 & Saturday 29 October), Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony (Thursday 26 & Saturday 28 January), and Brahms’s Symphony No.1 (Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 March). Their final concert of 2016-17 includes works informed by the America of capitalist expansion and the Soviet Union of five-year plans and state repression. They will perform Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 on Thursday 1 & Saturday 3 June, with Alina Ibragimova as soloist. The concert concludes with the RSPO’s first-ever performance of Edgard Varèse’s Amériques – the French-born composer’s visceral response to the ceaseless energy of New York and the limitless possibilities of the United States – scored for vast orchestral forces, compete with sirens and parts for eleven percussionists. The revolutionary work, originally written between 1918 and 1921, will be performed in its revised 1927 version.

“We are so pleased that the great love affair between Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic continues to burn,” notes Stefan Forsberg, Executive and Artistic Director of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. “It is a rare, even unique relationship, which is developing with every project. They were reunited in August for a concert in Stockholm and a tour to Amsterdam to perform at the Concertgebouw, so they are already in the best possible form to launch our season with Ein Heldenleben. Their focus on big symphonic pieces this year offers a chance for audiences to hear the orchestra at its best.” This season’s Stockholm International Composer Festival focuses on the music of Oliver Knussen. The British composer, born in 1952, wrote his first works at the age of six and made his international breakthrough nine years later when he conducted the premiere of his Symphony No.1. The breadth of Knussen’s contribution to contemporary music is reflected in the repertoire range offered across the festival. He will conduct the RSPO in the festival’s opening concert on Thursday 24 November, raising sparks with Flourish with Fireworks and accompanying Clio Gould as soloist in his Violin Concerto. The programme also encompasses The Way to Castle Yonder, a compilation of orchestral interludes from Knussen’s second operatic collaboration with Maurice Sendak, Higglety Pigglety Pop!, and his Symphony No.3. The weekend continues on Friday 25 November, when the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Wigglesworth explore Knussen’s Whitman Settings, Two Organa and pieces from Where the Wild Things Are. Knussen returns to conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic on Saturday 26 November in a repeat of the festival’s opening concert, before the young Swedish conductor Christian Karlsen directs members of the RSPO and soprano Claire Booth in a programme of works for chamber ensemble, including the Requiem – Songs for Sue and Hums and Songs of Winnie-the-Pooh. Stefan Forsberg highlights the importance of the Stockholm International Composer Festival to the RSPO. “This is one of the largest orchestral festivals devoted to the work of a living composer,” he comments. “Since its launch in 1986, the festival has featured the music of everyone from Lutosławski and Tippett to Brett Dean and Unsuk Chin. We are looking forward to our weekend with Oliver Knussen, who is such a significant figure on the contemporary music scene.” The RSPO’s spread of contemporary music has been carefully balanced between male and female composers in 2016-17. “Promoting the cause of women composers has been on the agenda in Sweden for several years, and I notice that it is rising in importance in Britain,” says Sakari Oramo. “The sex of a composer makes no difference to me; the matter is whether their work is good or not. There are quite simply so many outstanding women composing today and fine pieces by women from the past that have been neglected and deserve to be heard again. People have tended to play safe when it comes to programme planning and have too often resorted to music by the same figures, who are almost always men. True pluralism has only just started to flourish in the orchestral repertoire and we are happy to be making a contribution to that.” The RSPO’s 2016-17 includes significant visits from high-profile international soloists and conductors. Jonas Kaufmann joins the RSPO and Gianandrea Noseda on Thursday 8 December for the annual Nobel Prize Concert. The German tenor will perform a selection of operatic arias from his repertoire’s core. As part of her term as Artist in Residence at Stockholm’s Konserthuset, Yuja Wang will perform Bartók’s Piano Concerto No.3 with the orchestra and Sakari Oramo on Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 March. The Chinese pianist can also be heard in concert with violinist Leonidas Kavakos on Saturday 4 February and in solo recital on Sunday 19 March. “She’s a fantastic musician,” comments Oramo. “Her intuitive artistry is wonderful, together with her sense of complete technical control and security.” Other season highlights include Daniil Trifonov in Schumann’s Piano Concerto (Wednesday 11 & Thursday 12 January), Janine Jansen in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto (Thursday 25 March), Mahler’s Symphony No.9 conducted by Christoph Eschenbach (Wednesday 26 & Thursday 27 April) and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas (Thursday 18 & Saturday 20 May). “This is an exciting season for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic,” concludes Stefan Forsberg. “In addition to our concerts at home, we will tour the Baltic States next March with Sakari Oramo and Janine Jansen. The orchestra’s world premiere recording of Anders Hillborg’s The Strand Settings with Renée Fleming and Sakari is set for release on Decca next spring. And we will also celebrate the centenary of the RSPO’s education programme, looking back to the way music was presented to children over the last one hundred years and using that as an inspiration for new approaches today. Everything we do will be done with the greatest care and the special energy of the orchestra’s terrific musicians.” http://www.konserthuset.se http://konserthusetplay.se

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Thursday 20 October 2016, 7pm Saturday 22 October 2016, 3pm Sakari Oramo conductor | Lisa Batiashvili violin | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Borisova-Ollas Open Ground Hillborg Violin Concerto No.2 (world premiere) Shostakovich Symphony No.10

24-27 November 2016 - Stockholm International Composer Festival featuring Oliver Knussen

Thursday 24 November 2016, 7pm

Oliver Knussen conductor | Clio Gould violin | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Knussen Flourish with Fireworks

Knussen The Way to Castle Yonder

Knussen Violin Concerto, Op.30

Knussen Music for a Puppet Court, Op.11

Knussen Symphony No. 3

Friday 25 November 2016, 6pm

Ryan Wigglesworth conductor | Claire Booth soprano | Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra

Wigglesworth: Locke's Theatre

Knussen Whitman Settings

Knussen Two Organa

Knussen Where the Wild Things Are: Songs and a Sea Interlude, Op.20a

Knussen Where the Wild Things Are: The Wild Rumpus

Saturday 26 November 2016, 3pm

Oliver Knussen conductor | Clio Gould violin | Markus Maskuniitty french horn | Royal Stockholm

Philharmonic Orchestra

Knussen Flourish with Fireworks

Knussen The Way to Castle Yonder

Knussen Violin Concerto, Op.30

Knussen French Horn Concerto

Knussen Symphony No. 3

Sunday 27 November 2016, 3pm

Christian Karlsen conductor | Claire Booth soprano | Stefan Lindgren piano | Ryan Wigglesworth

piano | Members of Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Knussen Ophelia Dances: Book I

Knussen Ophelia’s Last Dance

Knussen Hums and Songs of Winnie the Pooh, Op.6

Knussen Whitman Settings

Knussen Songs without Voices

Knussen Sonya's Lullaby

Knussen Triptych: Part 2

Knussen Requiem

Knussen Songs for Sue

Thursday 8 December 2016, 7pm

Gianandrea Noseda conductor | Jonas Kaufmann tenor | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Programme to be announced

Wednesday 15 March 2017, 7pm

Thursday 16 March 2017, 6pm

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: YUJA WANG

Sakari Oramo conductor | Yuja Wang piano | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Magnus Lindberg Vivo

Bartók Piano Concerto No.3

Brahms Symphony No.1

Sunday 19 March 2017, 3pm

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: YUJA WANG

Piano recital, programme to be announced

21-23 March 2017

BALTIC TOUR

Sakari Oramo conductor | Janine Jansen violin | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic

af Malmborg Ward Operatic

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Brahms Symphony No.1

Tuesday 21 March 2017 Concert in Riga

Wednesday 22 March 2017 Concert in Tartu

Thursday 23 March 2017 Concert in Tallinn

Thursday 1 June 2017, 7pm

Saturday 3 June 2017, 3pm

Sakari Oramo conductor | Alina Ibragimova violin | Royal Stockholm Philharmonic

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1

Stravinsky Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Varèse Amériques!