Carmina Burana in St. Petersburg

Today I received a phone call saying that I am conducting Carmina Burana by Carl Orff in St. Petersburg on the 11th October. I have known about this engagement for a while but it was only confirmed today. It is a charity concert raising funds for the Hospices in St. Petersburg. I’ll be conducting my own orchestra and I am really looking forwards to it.

But at the moment I am in the middle of my ‘Music at the fort’ festival and I am conducting on Saturday and Sunday so I have to think more about St. Petersburg next week. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out more.

An incredible night

On Saturday we opened the ‘Music at the fort’ festival. It really was an amazing event and I am glad that I even managed to relax for half an hour and see the first half of the concert. The audience was very appreciative and some members of the audience even came up to one of our stewards and said they had to pinch their arms as they thought they were dreaming. I cannot imagine better praise than that!
The Lund University Male Choir gave a marvellous concert and showed exactly why they sold 80 000 CDs last year. It really is an incredible choir - arguably one of the best male choirs in the world.
After the concert, the choir joined the audience for dinner. But the choir members obviously did not think that they had sung enough, as they kept singing in the restaurant all night. I do not know whether it was the singing that was affected by the drinking or whether it was my perception that was altered, but the more we drank the better it sounded!
The adventure continues…

Interview on Swedish national radio

Dear reader,

Today I was featuring in a national radio programme in Sweden. I was interviewed about our Music at the Fort festival which opens tomorrow. The coverage is in Swedish and can be heard here:
http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=db&Id=1271094&BroadcastDate=&IsBlock=0

The launch of a totally new music festival

Dear reader,

On Saturday, I'll launch a totally new festival. It is not the biggest that I have launched but it is certainly the most different! Taking place on a former top secret military fort on an island in between Sweden and Denmark, 'Music at the fort' is supposed to unite the two countries in music. The audience are coming from both countries and meet 'half ways' on this island.

We are picking people up in big boats in Sweden and Denmark respectively and taking them to the fort.The concerts will take place in a bunker that used to be the 'power-hall' housing large generators of electricity. After the performances, people will enjoy a good dinner in the restaurant pavillon after which we'll take them back to the mainland by boat.

The concerts themselves are also very different. On Saturday the 26th July, we have the Lund University Choir visiting. It sounds modest but it is not a student choir but a team of 40 very highly qualified singers. They will also join all the guests in a party afterwards where they will sing Swedish traditional drinking songs in beautiful arrangements.

The week after, I am on the podium myself with the Flakfort virtuosi. It is a string orchestra consisting of section leaders from many different orchestras – even the London Symphony Orchestra! We are gathering a few days before and shall stay on the island and rehearse together. We shall sleep in the fortress and it will hopefully be a few days full of music, friendship and lots of fun. I am really looking forwards to working with such incredible musicians.

The closing of the festival will see Craig Ogden performing in our underground hall. Craig is a marvellous guitarist and if you ask me (and many with me), I would say that he is the best in the world. We are very much looking forwards to having him here.

I'll let you know how it all goes. Watch this spot!

New news page

Dear reader,

 

Welcome to my new news page. I will from now on post news messages myself on this spot.

 

Enjoy!