Göteborgs Konserthus Hugo Alfvén with the Gothenburg Opera

A dear visit from the Gothenburg Opera orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard conductor, Ida Falk Winland soprano and Adam Frandsen tenor.

Concert length: 2 h incl. intermission Scene: Stora salen
380-540 SEK Student 190-270 SEK Youth up to 29 190-270 SEK
Dates & Tickets
ListenIntroduction Programme & Participants

In Hugo Alfvén’s rarely performed symphony From the Outskirts of the Archipelago, we hear a young couple’s longing accompanied by the undulating caresses of waves. The Gothenburg Opera Orchestra is led by Thomas Dausgaard. The soloists are soprano Ida Falk Winland and tenor Adam Frandsen. 

Hugo Alfvén’s powerful and sensual 4th symphony begins with the undulating caresses of waves and a young couple’s longing for each other among rocks in the outermost skerries. When the sun has risen – “over the first and last day of love’s happiness”, writes the composer himself – the sea and love are shaken by a storm. Happiness is destroyed. The wordless song is performed by Gothenburg Opera’s acclaimed soprano Ida Falk Winland and tenor Adam Frandsen. 

The evening’s concert begins with opera music well known to the orchestra – Wagner’s shimmering prelude to the first act of Lohengrin. Then follows Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. The sensual orchestral suite with its famous flute solo is an excerpt from the composer’s choreographic symphony Daphnis et Chloé, a tribute to ancient Greece. 

Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard has previously been chief conductor of, among others, the Seattle Symphony and currently holds the same position at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. 

Listen

Get to know the classical pieces.

Introduction to the concert

Take a seat in the Great Hall one hour before the concert begins and learn more about the music you will soon experience! You will get the stories behind the music, knowledge of the composers and own reflections about the classical pieces. The introduction last for about 30 minutes, it is free and free seating in the hall. Warm welcome!

Programme

Lohengrin (1848) is Wagner's last romantic opera, which at the same time paves the way for a modern, well-composed music drama with leitmotif. He drew inspiration for the plot from various medieval legends and fairy tales, and welded the various stories together. This, together with well-crafted, psychologically believable character portraits, resulted in a moving and tragic drama. The story revolves around the grail knight Lohengrin, who in the guise of a savior comes to the rescue of the innocently accused Elsa of Brabant. He saves her, however, only on the condition that she never asks what his name is, or where he comes from. A temptation that, fueled by the pagan antagonists, proves fatally difficult to resist. The popular prelude to the first act, which author Thomas Mann considered "the pinnacle of romanticism", is often performed on its own in concerts. The dreamlike, lyrical introduction immediately captures attention and creates anticipation. Through various musical themes and motifs, we are guided into the first act's world of passion, mystery and heroism. Andreas Konvicka
It is difficult to capture this orchestral suite in a few words, which after more than 100 years strikes an audience with enormous richness of color and virtuosity. A music that is only remarkable at the time of its creation. 1913 is the year that Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is played for the first time, and Anton Webern's 6 orchestral works are performed in Vienna. Two concerts whose musical revolution was for a long time overshadowed by the scuffles that arose during the concerts. Ravel's suite was already embraced during the composer's lifetime, but its musical revolution in harmony and orchestration is no lesser. This suite, which is part of a ballet set to the Greek tale of Daphnis and Chloé, to which Diaghilev's famous dance company danced, bears all the characteristics that made Ravel's music immortal. The examples are countless, but the level of subtle genius is present already in the opening of the work, when the sun rises in the impressionistic orchestral scree. Not least listen to how this is embodied in the string section. The timbre, which is like a fund for the moving wind motifs, is in fact the sunrise's most sonorous transformation; how the strings in a slow procession during the opening bars raise the chords, from desk to desk, from section to section, and in that way - sifted through the sound of the strings - sweetly let the overtones from the strings go from the dark to the clear. Esaias Järnegard
Intermission 25 min
Hugo Alfvén (1872 – 1960) Symphony no 4 "From the outermost skerries" Alfvén's fourth symphony (1918-19) was something completely new in Swedish musical life when it was created. It begins in an impressionistic style, which playfully and without interruption transitions into a colorful processing of various motifs. The two soloists, symbolizing the couple in love, perform a wordless song similar to the slow movement of Carl Nielsen's Third Symphony. Alfvén wrote his symphony intermittently for over twenty years due to various circumstances, and it was to be his last major composition for a long time. He himself considered it to be his best work, alongside the ballet Bergakungen (1923). The symphony is definitely the most personal thing he wrote, and he mentions in his memoirs that the intention was "to compose an apotheosis of the highest happiness of earthly love, as I myself experienced it". The symphony is a visual representation of Stockholm's archipelago, and depicts nature with the movements of the sea under moonlight, sunshine and storms. In parallel, a romantic story is told - the boy's longing in the first movement, the girl's awakening in the scherzo part, the couple's growing love in the slow movement, and the finale which depicts the tragic end. Andreas Konvicka
Thursday 16 November 2023: The event ends at approx. 21.30

Participants

The Gothenburg Opera's orchestra consists of 86 musicians and participates in almost all performances on the Gothenburg Opera's big stage. Sometimes also in dance pieces, on tour and in chamber concerts. The musicians regularly switch between genres, mastering baroque opera, Wagner, musicals, premieres by contemporary composers and everything in between. - The orchestra is very flexible, says Andreas Lönnqvist, director of the orchestra at the Gothenburg Opera. The house has a wide repertoire and we play everything from baroque opera to musicals. The musicians master many different styles and adapt the way they play to what is happening on stage. About two weeks before the premiere, the musicians move out of the orchestra hall and start rehearsing with the rest of the ensemble. The number of musicians in the orchestra varies. - If it's a big romantic opera, by Strauss for example, we're all in place in the orchestra pit. Another time there are only about thirty of us. It depends entirely on the type of performance it is about, says Andreas Lönnqvist. The Gothenburg Opera Orchestra gives its own concerts and is also on tour. Some of the musicians are also active as chamber musicians and play at the opera's foyer concerts.
The Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard is a profile in both Nordic and European musical life. He has enjoyed a successful tenure as Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2016-2022. He was also for a long time leader of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and has been honorary conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra della Toscana. He was previously Principal Guest Conductor (2014-2019) and Music Director (2019-2022) of the Seattle Symphony. He is elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. As a guest conductor, Dausgaard has worked with the world's leading orchestras, including the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Vienna and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Toronto Symphony, the Houston Symphony and the Bergen Philharmonic with whom he recorded Bruckner for the BIS Symphonies. He has also appeared with the New York, Los Angeles, Munich and St Petersburg Philharmonics, and at prestigious festivals worldwide, such as the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia and George Enescu Festivals and Tanglewood. Dausgaard has also made innovative programs combining classical music with other genres – such as Sibelius, Stravinsky and Nielsen with folk music groups, Mahler with klezmer music, Rachmaninoff with orthodox singing, etc., several of which have been presented at the BBC Proms.
Ida Falk Winland belongs to Gothenburg Opera's soloist ensemble, where in the last season she performed roles such as Gilda in Rigoletto and Mimí in La Bohème. Previously we have seen her as Ilia in Idomeneo, Adalgisa in Norma, Morgana in Alcina, Cleopatra in Julius Caesar, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, The Countess and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Nedda in Pajazzo and Beate Bella Bravura in Julglitter och operakaos. She has also visited the Glyndebourne Festival where she appeared in the main role as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, and the Royal Opera House where she sang Violetta in La Traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto. Previous guest appearances include the Opéra National de Paris where she appeared as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. Falk Winland has also appeared in the role of Pamina in The Magic Flute and Romilda in Xerxes at the Royal Opera and she has sung First Niece in Peter Grimes at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Furthermore, she has appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Helsinki Festival, Cunégonde in Bernstein's Candide at the Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy and Cecily in Barry's The Importance of Being Earnest at Covent Garden in London and at the Opéra National de Lorraine. She made her Glyndebourne Festival debut in Hansel and Gretel and she has also sung Poppea in Handel's Agrippina at the Internationale Händel-Festspiele in Göttingen.
Adam Frandsen is a Danish tenor who graduated in 2013 from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia USA and has quickly gained international attention. Among his later engagements can be mentioned Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in Auckland, New Zealand, the title roles in Don Carlos and Idomeneo and the tenor part in the song cycle in Dichterliebe at Folkoperan. Other later roles are Rodolfo in La Bohème at the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan, Augustin Moser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Salzburg Easter Festival in Austria, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Hedeland, Alfredo in La Traviata at Jyske Opera, Young Servant in Elektra and Narraboth in Salome at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, as well as the tenor part in Verdi's Requiem with the Victoria Symphony in Canada. Frandsen was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008 and is the recipient of the Aalborg Opera Prize in 2015.
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Nr 4 2016-2017 Tonsättarporträtt Wagner

Han började spela piano och fiol som 12-åring, blev Beethoven-fantast som 15-åring och fick sin första symfoni spelad spelad som 19-åring och skrev också då sin första opera. Från 20 kunde han kallas yrkesmusiker.

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