40 years of music: A fanfare for Berwaldhallen

For 40 years, Berwaldhallen has played host to fantastic music from around the world. This jubilee concert offers both Ingvar Lidholm’s Fanfar (Fanfare), the first piece ever heard in the concert hall, and a new double concerto for two of the best trumpeters in the world – Håkan Hardenberger and Jeroen Berwaerts – Nigredo: Dark Night of the Soul by Tobias Broström. The icing on the cake: Schubert’s unfinished symphony. Celebrate all of Sweden’s concert hall with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and music director Daniel Harding.

Season 2019/2020
Date has passed
Berwaldhallen
1 hour 40 min (with intermission)

Ingvar Lidholm’s majestic Fanfar (Fanfare) has sounded at least three times, and each time, it has been played by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The first time was in June 1956, when the ISCM World Music Days festival was held in Stockholm. The fanfare was written especially for the festival, by the way. 23 years later, it was played again, when Berwaldhallen opened its doors on the 30th of November 1979. A further 20 years thereafter, it marked the 20th anniversary of Swedish Radio’s concert hall, and at this concert, almost 40 years to the day since Berwaldhallen opened, it’s time again.

Lidholm’s fanfare, whose history is closely intertwined with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Berwaldhallen, becomes the symbolic crown atop a fantastic concert programme. The word ‘fantastic’ is often bandied about a bit carelessly, but here, it really is appropriate. The king of the waltz, Johann Strauss the younger, who, had there been a Billboard list in the 1800s would have been the Max Martin of his time, contributes with the handsome overture of one of his most popular operettas: Die Fledermaus. It’s festive, celebratory, catchy music. It’s not a coincidence that the word jubilee comes from an old term meaning to ‘shout for joy,’ which is exactly what Strauss’ overture invites you to do – rise from your seat and shout for joy.

The concerto also offers a piece by one of today’s big, Swedish star composers, Tobias Broström. Nigredo: Dark Night of the Soul is a virtuoso mirage, composed for two of the world’s foremost trumpet soloists, as well as an introspective, philosophical piece rooted deep down in the human psyche. Håkan Hardenberger and Jeroen Berwaerts are two of today’s best trumpet players. Berwaldhallen has proudly welcomed the world’s best conductors, musicians and guest ensembles for 40 years, and introduced them not just to the concert audience, but to all of Sweden through broadcasts via Swedish Radio’s P2 and online.

A jubilee concert wouldn’t be a jubilee concert without a symphony. Swedish Radio’s Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor, Daniel Harding, interprets Schubert’s unfinished Symphony in B Minor with the usual knack for detail and richness in nuance. Even though the composer only completed the first two of the probably four movements, and outlined the third, it is seen as being among Schubert’s most beautiful and well-crafted instrumental pieces. Not least the dramatic opening of the first movement has become legendary, is frequently cited, and has been a model for many other fierce music pieces. Berwaldhallen is and remains all of Sweden’s concert hall with the most beloved classical repertoire as well as the newest and coolest music on its repertoire.

More concerts

  • Few seats remaining
    April 25 & 26
    170 - 560 kr

    Mahler’s First Symphony with Herbert Blomstedt

    Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s first and Franz Berwald’s fourth symphonies.
    Read more & tickets
  • Few seats remaining
    30 April
    130 - 475 kr

    Schumann's Spring Symphony

    Nature takes center stage when Magnus Fryklund leads the Swedish Radio Choir and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a romantic spring program imbued with the transformative power of poetry.
    Read more & tickets
  • No tickets left
    3 maj
    270 - 495 kr

    Happy Voices med Gabriel Forss & Jill Johnson

    Warmly welcome to a concert with the choir Happy Voices, led by choir leader Gabriel Forss.
    Read more
  • Few seats remaining
    May 7, 8 & 10
    130 - 475 kr

    Carmina Burana

    Carl Orff’s iconic cantata Carmina Burana with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Choir and soloists Karolina Bengtsson, Tobias Westman, and David Risberg conducted by Yi-Chen Lin.
    Read more & tickets