DISCO INFERNO
A return to the golden age of throbbing disco rhythms and sparkling sequins. Hans Ek leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in some of the most iconic disco songs of the 1970s during an evening featuring glitter, glamour and a cavalcade of dazzling artists. Andreas Lundstedt, Lina Hedlund and LaGaylia Frazier present a string of famous and less famous hits that will make you want to hit the dance floor.
Participants
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is known worldwide as one of Europe’s most versatile orchestras with an exciting and varied repertoire and a constant striving to break new ground The multi-award-winning orchestra has been praised for its exceptional, wide-ranging musicianship as well as collaborations with the world’s foremost composers, conductors and soloists.
Permanent home of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1979 is Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio’s concert hall. In addition to the audience in the hall, the orchestra reaches many many listeners on the radio and the web and through it´s partnership with EBU. Several concerts are also broadcast and streamed on Berwaldhallen Play and with Swedish Television, offering the audience more opportunities to come as close as possible to one of the world’s top orchestras.
“The orchestra has a unique combination of humility, sensibility and musical imagination”, says Daniel Harding, Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2007. “I have never had a concert with the orchestra where they haven’t played as though their lives depended on it!”
The first radio orchestra was founded in 1925, the same year that the Swedish Radio Service began its broadcasts. The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra received its current name in 1967. Through the years, the orchestra has had several distinguished Music Directors. Two of them, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been appointed Conductors Laureate.
Hans Ek’s ability to make music valid and interesting in our time, regardless of its origin and genre, has given him an exclusive position in Nordic music. This has led to several fruitful collaborations with artist such as Zara Larsson, Laleh, Veronica Maggio, Ane Brun, Metropole Orkester, Gothenburg symphony orchestra, Copenhagen Phil, and many others.
For ten years, Ek was the artistic director of the Polar Prize ceremony.
During recent years Ek’s production have been shown both in Sweden and on international stages. For example E.S.T Symphony, Bowie in Berlin, Eno Remixed for Orchestra, Chelsea Hotel, Kosmische Musik, Made by Björk, Studio 54-Disco Inferno and Dance Music Symphony.
Ek is frequently engaged to arrange music for both Swedish and international orchestras. In February 2020 the New York Philarmonic and Renée Flemming performed Ek’s production of Björk’s music and in November 2021 the Berlin Philarmonics and Theo Crocker played arrangements by Ek. Together with Swedish singer Jenny Wilson, Ek wrote music for her album Trauma, released in 2019. During the spring of 2022 a record was released where Nils Wülker and BR Müncher Rundfunkorchester played Ek’s musical arrangement.
In March 2022 the Wermland Opera put on the world premier och Linus Fellbom and Ek’s industrial barock opera Eurydike and during June and July Ek’s has performed with Eva Dahlgren and the Tampere Philarmonic Orchestra as well as the Royal Swedish Orchestra. In August a new collaboration with the Metropole Orkest and Stewart Copeland for at concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was initiated. In November Ek led the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and LaGaylia Fraiser, Andreas Lundstedt and Linda Hedlund in the sold out Disco inferno concerts at Berwaldhallen. In february 2023 GöteborgsOperan will stage the worldpremier of Kenneth Kvarnström’s show 12 songs+ with Ane Brun together with GöteborgsOperan’s dance company and orchestra.
Andreas Lundstedt började sin karriär på 1980-talet i gruppen Stage Four tillsammans med Peter Jöback, Lisa Nilsson och Lizette Pålsson. Han är känd bland annat som programledare och skådespelare men framför allt som artist, själv och inte minst från gruppen Alcazar som han bildade tillsammans med Tess Merkel och Annika Kjærgaard. Sommaren 2019 turnerade Andreas med föreställningen Disco Undressed tillsammans med gitarristen Andy Pfeiler och slagverkaren Magnus Almqvist med nyskapande, intima tolkningar av discorepertoaren. Alcazar firade 20-årsjubileum hösten 2018 med stor turné och avslutningskonsert på Cirkus i Stockholm. Såväl som soloartist som med gruppen Alcazar har Andreas haft stora internationella framgångar med åtskilliga radiohits och bejublade konsertframträdanden. Han har också gjort huvudroller i musikaler som Saturday Night Fever och Legally Blonde och varit sommarpratare i Sommar i P1 2010 samt programledare för olika tv-shower. 2018 gjorde han den egna tv-serien I Will Survive i SVT om discoeran på 70- och 80-talet – en succé som rörde en stor publik.
Lina Hedlund debuterade i Melodifestivalen 2002 tillsammans med systern Hanna med låten Big Time Party. Efter ett inhopp i gruppen Alcazar 2007 blev hon fast medlem i gruppen fram till deras splittring i januari 2019. Hon har gjort åtskilliga bejublade framträdanden med Alcazar och även tävlat flera gånger i Melodifestivalen. 2019 tävlade hon än en gång själv, med låten Victorious. Under 2019 har hon släppt flera singlar som soloartist. Lina är även en känd röstskådespelare från bland annat Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Alvin och gänget-filmerna, Kubo och de två strängarna och senast The Angry Birds Movie 2. Hon debuterade också 2011 som programledare för musiktävlingen Copycat Singers.
Approximate concert length: 2 h with intermission
Tickets
More concerts
SING-ALONG FOR BIG AND SMALL 2022
Sing along to well-known and much loved children’s songs together with music class pupils and sing-along host Johan Pejler.
CHAMBER MUSIC: FOUR PREMIERES BY MARIA LITHELL FLYG
A chamber music concert comprising several first performances of works whose common theme is inspiration. Maria Lithell Flyg has based her four songs on poems by four women, Johanna Sjunnesson has borrowed fragments from Bach, and a theme from the Gassenhauser Trio by Beethoven has inspired several other composers.
TORLEIF THEDÉEN IN SHOSTAKOVICH’S CELLO CONCERTO NO. 2
Star cellist Torleif Thedéen performs Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 together with the Swedish Radio Orchestra under Ingo Metzmacher, followed by Bruckner’s lyrical Symphony No. 4.