Göteborgs Konserthus Macbeth – A staged concert

Giuseppe Verdi's opera premiered in 1847 and is based on Shakespeare's famous play. This concert version has Swedish text by Catarina Gnosspelius and orchestral arrangement by Henrik Torolphi. General Macbeth is told through a prophecy that he will become king of Scotland. He immediately starts making plans. His wife Lady Macbeth is even more ambitious and says he should kill King Duncan, which he also does when the king spends the night at the estate. Lady Macbeth plants bloody daggers on the drunken guards to blame them. When Macbeth then ascends to the throne, he is consumed by guilt and becomes deeply suspicious. He sees ghosts and hires assassins to kill his rivals. He seeks help from witches. They tell him to beware of Macduff but will be safe as long as the trees in the forest don't reach him. Macbeth kills everyone in Macduff's castle, but Macduff himself is not there. Lady Macbeth also begins to suffer from guilt. She sleepwalks and hallucinates about blood on her hands. She ends up taking her own life. Macduff teams up with King Duncan's son Malcolm and cuts down the trees of Birnam Wood, using them as camouflage. Their forces strike down on Macbeth and fulfill the witch's prophecy. Macduff kills Macbeth and cuts off his head. Instead, Malcolm is hailed as the rightful king of Scotland.

Kim Phipps has been conductor and artistic director of Västra Götaland's Youth Orchestra since the start in 2000. He has also been artistic director of Läcköoperan since 2003 and is conductor of the award-winning Swedish Chamber Orchestra, which he also founded. Kim Phipps was born in London and received his early musical training as a chorister at New College, Oxford. He took his B.A. as a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge and went on to study singing at the Guildhall School in London. Conducting studies in Munich and Manchester followed and he made his professional debut at the Gothenburg Opera in 1985. The next ten years were largely devoted to opera with engagements at Sadlers Wells and English National Opera in London, Krefeld in Germany, and Malmö in Sweden. In 1994 Phipps moved to Sweden and has since then lived in Gothenburg. Although opera is still an important feature of his career, orchestral and choral work is now equally important. Kim Phipps has conducted most of the professional orchestras in Sweden including the Gothenburg Symphony.

The tenor Petter Reingardt attended Södra Latins Gymnasium's music department and has studied classical singing at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. He has also studied the opera program at the University of Theater and Music in Gothenburg and has studied in Italy with teachers such as Chris Merritt and Benton Hess. He freelances as an opera singer, teacher and choir director and more.