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THE CONCERT HAS BEEN CANCELED - SVENSK MUSIKVÅR FINAL CONCERT

Both the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet and Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir received pieces from composer Sven-David Sandström who passed away last year. Here, they perform one piece each from their musical treasure chests, in this concert that also marks the end of the fifth annual contemporary music festival Svensk Musikvår. Also, the two ensembles will première In the Beginning, written in the memory of Sven-David by one of his last students, composer Matthew Peterson.


Participants

 

The Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, formed in 1969, has made a speciality of chamber music for saxophone – by composers from at home and abroad. They also specialise in advanced electro-acoustic music. The members of the Quartet have had over 700 works written for them.

A recurrent feature of their work is the close collaboration they undertake with Swedish and foreign composers, as well as with the composers of the future, particularly at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. The members of the Quartet hold seminars, take part in concerts and work together with artists in genres other than their own. This approach to their work has meant that their style and skills have rapidly developed and they now belong among Sweden’s foremost interpretative artists in their particular, very wide- ranging, field. The Stockholm Saxophone Quartet is driven by an irrepressible desire continually to test and go beyond the boundaries of what is considered possible in artistic terms. They often perform at international festivals, in opera houses and concert halls.

The focal point for contemporary music which the Quartet is creating to be a springboard for new and artistic endeavour, both at the Swedish and the international level. The members of the Quartet are veteran travellers – they have toured throughout Europe (e.g. the Baltic countries, France, Greece, Spain, Russia, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine and Albania) and performed in USA, Japan, Israel, South Africa Egypt, China, Mongolia, Turkey, Bolivia and Iran. In their travels, the members of the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet present Swedish music to the wider world and bring home with them new musical encounters and experiences to share with the Swedish audience. Since 2016, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet has arranged and produced Svensk Musikvår, a week long festival presenting Swedish contemporary music in Stockholm. The festival has come to be a unique and yearly manifesto for contemporary music and it is supported by Sweden’s most important cultural institutions.

Approximate concert length: 35 min (no intermission)