The Nordic Choir Expedition –
Eric Ericsons Kammarkör: Holy and bright /
All the choirs: Between the Earth and Skies (premiere)
Fri. 2.6.2023 7 PM
Kallio Church, Helsinki
Tickets: 25/20/15 € from Ticketmaster
The Festival Pass to all four concerts 70/56/42 €, from Ticketmaster.
Note! The Festival Pass also includes the concert at Kallio Church on 2.6.2023.
Carl Nielsen: Benedictus Dominus
Krzysztof Penderecki: Stabat Mater
Djuro Zivkovic: Musica Psalterii Gloriosi
Thomas Jennefelt: Dann entstrahlt…
Sven-David Sandström: Es ist genug
Matthew Peterson: brIght
Britta Byström: Another part of the wood
Eric Ericsons Kammarkör, cond. Fredrik Malmberg
Galina Grigorjeva: Between the Earth and Skies (premiere)
Eric Ericsons Kammarkör, cond. Fredrik Malmberg
Det Norske Solistkor, cond. Grete Pedersen
Ars Nova Copenhagen, cond. Graham Ross
Helsinki Chamber Choir, cond. Nils Schweckendiek
Spiritual, comforting and rich in mystery is the music, which is presented by Eric Ericson's Chamber Choir under the direction of Fredrik Malmberg.
Carl Nielsen's heartfelt Benedictus Dominus, highly regarded by himself, from Tre Motetters for a cappella Choir (1929) is performed first. They were composed in the years before his death, when he was studying the vocal polyphonic works of Renaissance composers. Penderecki's poignant Stabat Mater (1962) is written for three four-part choirs a cappella and was later included in his St Luke Passion.
In Musica Psalterii Gloriosi from Đuro Živković's sacred motet, Lyra Laudis (2021), the text is based on a well-known 16th-century Ethiopian poem in honor of the Virgin Mary, "Enzira Sebhat".
The text of Thomas Jennefelt's piece Dann entstrahlt….. (2013) is taken from the Second Vatican Council from 1965, which expresses that time's hope for the possibility of peace despite ongoing conflicts and wars.
In Sven-David Sandström's cantata Es ist genug (1986), the composer reuses the text of a Buxtehude cantata, quotes its music, and seamlessly weaves his own material into the work.
Poet E. E. Cummings' modernist, haiku-like nature poetry inspired Matthew Peterson's An Inner Sky (2022). In the last movement, Bright, the words are taken apart, and put together in a playful and at the same time profound way.
For Britta Byström's newly written work Another part of the wood (2022), the text has been taken from Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the scene where Titania is rocked to sleep by her fairies. Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Psalm No. 43, Richte mich Gott from Drei Psalmen, op. 78 (1844), is considered one of his highlights in choral music, with its radiance of beauty, peace and love.
“Man was left free between the Earth and the Skies to see, to hear, to speak, to understand. This was the way the Man was created at the beginning. But there is also the main destination of man. We have to learn to love. We cannot know the Truth, the Beauty of Nature in its highest meaning, we will not manage to save our fragile world without Love.
The piece uses lyrics in different languages written by poets from different countries sharing one thing in common - searching for answers to the existential questions of the meaning of Being and of finding the ways to save world, the nature and environment for future generations.”
Galina Grigorjeva
Eric Ericson Chamber Choir was founded in 1945 by then 27-year-old Eric Ericson, and has since taken a central position in the Swedish and international music scene. Eric Ericson and his choir’s great interest in always finding new music and exploring new areas makes the ensemble’s repertoire very wide to this day: from early music to the latest and newly composed. After Eric Ericson passed away in 2013, Fredrik Malmberg was engaged as chief conductor, working alongside Swedish and international guest conductors.
On the world stage, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir is among the very foremost professional ensembles. Highlights of the international work include collaborations with the Swedish Radio Choir and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, James Levine and Riccardo Muti.
Since 2003, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir has a close collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stockholm Concert Hall. Eric Ericson Chamber Choir is a member of TENSO – the European network for professional chamber choirs.
The Nordic Choir Expedition has received funding from the European Union
and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Culture and Art Programme