Newsletter, January 2014

Welcome to the New Year’s first News Letter from Svenska Konsertbyrån! Soprano Kristina Hansson kicks off the new year on Jan. 9 by singing Mozart arias with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Kristina Hansson has been renowned for her refined timbre and technical brilliance and she is one of Sweden’s foremost concert soloists. During this season Kristina has done a very successful Pamina in Folkoperan’s new production of The Magic Flute.

Question: Your career has included quite a lot of Mozart roles, such as the Queen of the Night (Stockholm Royal Opera), Konstanze (Oper Leipzig) and Elisa (Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck). In the spring you are the soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass in C-minor together with the Swedish Radio Choir. Why have you so often sung music from the classical period?

Answer: Sometimes all things just fall into place. It is all about timbre, temperament and where you feel at home when it comes to style. And as for Mozart, we seem to get on quite well!

Q: Your achievement as interpreter of new music has been highly praised. Several roles in contemporary Swedish opera have been written especially for you, e.g. Isabella in The Insomnia Clinic (Sömnkliniken) by Carl Unander-Scharin (GöteborgsOperan). Does preparing for a new role that no one has done before differ from preparing for old well-known roles?

A: The biggest difference is that there are so many recordings of the standard repertoire that you can listen to, for better or worse of course. You can get inspiration and tips but then, being an artist, you must use your body and your mind to make the character live. When studying for a first performance of a new opera, you often meet and talk with the composer. These talks are important. That is when you get the chance to ask the composer about his intentions with the music and discuss your own thoughts about the role. It is a thrilling and unique journey every time.

Q: You are married to conductor Joakim Unander, earlier Principal Conductor at Folkoperan in Stockholm, and you have small children. How do you manage to combine family life with a sometimes very intense musical career?

A: If you can, you avoid working too much the first few years when the children are very small. You often have to rely on helpful relatives and friends to see to it that the children feel safe in their little world.

Q: What roles would you like to take on in the future?

A: When I think about it, I cannot say that I have any role I really dream about doing. However, I would like to look closely into Mozart’s Mitridate and Lucio Silla. They contain so many fantastic characters and extremely smashing music!

Kristina Hansson has been a guest at various opera houses, e.g. Oper Leipzig, Staatsoper Berlin, Opéra de Montpellier, Teatro Carlo Felice, the Stockholm Royal Opera, GöteborgsOperan, Malmö Opera, the Drottningholm Palace Theatre, and also at festivals such as Insbrucker Festwochen and Händel-Festspiele  Göttingen. Kristina has worked with conductors Andrew Manze, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Michael Schønwandt, René Jacobs, Fabio Biondi, Christophe Rousset and others. She has been awarded many scholarships and prizes, e.g. the Jenny Lind Scholarship and first prize in Yamaha Federation Prize. She was also a semifinalist in Placido Domingo’s opera competition Operalia.

For more information please visit http://www.kristinahansson.com/

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Daniel Frank is Tannhäuser

Daniel Frank will sing the title-role in the Prague National Theatre’s new production of Tannhäuser. Opening will be held on Jan 11 with further performances on Jan 23, Feb 5, Feb 15 and March 2. Later this season Daniel will also sing Tannhäuser at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.

Günter Neuhold and Emma Schmidt

On Jan. 16, Austrian conductor Günter Neuhold will lead the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in an all-Russian programme. It includes among other things Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. Emma Schmidt is the soloist in the Piano Concerto by Schnittke. Venue: Turku Concert Hall, Finland.

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Umeå - European Capital of Culture 2014

Susanna Levonen, Josefine Andersson, Jonas Durán and Daniel Hällström are the soloists in Beethoven’s 9th symphony at NorrlandsOperan’s great Beethoven event “Beethoven & Beyond”. The concert takes place in connection with NorrlandsOperan’s celebration of Umeå – European Capital of Culture 2014. Venue: NorrlandsOperan, Umeå on Jan. 23. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.

Mika Eichenholz and Tchaikovsky

Mika Eichenholz will conduct Gävle Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s first symphony ”Winter Dreams” on Jan. 24. Later this spring Mika will lead Salzburger Landestheater in Tchaikovsky’s classical ballet Swan Lake.

Mozart at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm

Karolina Andersson sings the Queen of the Night and Sara Widén sings Pamina at the Royal Swedish Opera's production of Die Zauberflöte (the Magic Flute). Performances will be held until 5 April 2014. During the spring season, Sara Widén will also sing the role of Zerlina and Anders Lorentzson the role of Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni.

Distinctions

The Stenhammar Quartet has been nominated for the Grammis Award (the Swedish equivalent to the Grammy Award) for the cd, STENHAMMAR: STRING QUARTETS, VOLUME 1. Soprano Cornelia Beskow has been awarded The Swedish Wagner Society Bayreuth Bursary 2014. Svenska Konsertbyrån congratulate them warmly on receiving these distinctions!