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THE SWEDISH RADIO CHOIR: LIGETI 100 YEARS

Principal conductor Kaspars Putniņš leads the Radio Choir in a tribute concert dedicated to György Ligeti who would have been 100 this year. We will listen to the evocative Lux Aeterna, used by Stanley Kubrick in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ligeti’s Drei Hölderlin Phantasien was first performed by the Radio Choir under Eric Ericson in Berwaldhallen forty years ago, in 1982. Also music by Lars Johan Werle and Lars Edlund, who both worked closely with Eric Ericson and the Radio Choir.

The concert will be broadcasted on Berwaldhallen Play and in the Swedish Radio P2 Friday, April 14 at 7 pm.

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SWEDISH RADIO CHOIR

dot 2022/2023

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32 professional choristers make up the Swedish Radio Choir: a unique, dynamic instrument hailed by music-lovers and critics all over the world. The Swedish Radio Choir performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, as well as on tours all over the country and the world. Also, they are heard regularly by millions of listeners on Swedish Radio P2, Berwaldhallen Play and globally through the EBU.

The award-winning Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš was appointed Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir in 2020. Since January 2019, its choirmaster is French orchestral and choral conductor Marc Korovitch, with responsibility for the choir’s vocal development.

The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, the same year as Sweden’s inaugural radio broadcasts, and gave its first concert in May that year. Multiple acclaimed and award-winning albums can be found in the choir’s record catalogue. Late 2023 saw the release of Kaspars Putniņš first album with the choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra, recorded with organist Johan Hammarström.

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Kaspars Putniņš is Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir since 2020, and newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir with whom he has worked closely for more than 30 years. He was formerly Chief Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in 2014–2021. He regularly appears with the RIAS Kammerchor, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Collegium Vocale Gent, Danish National Vocal Ensemble & Choir, Netherlands Radio Choir, NDR Vokalensemble Hamburg, Chorwerk Ruhr, among others.

While Putniņš is a skilled interpreter of a wide choral repertoire, from Renaissance polyphony through to romantic music, his foremost goal has always been promoting new and outstanding choral music. He has forged close relationships with Baltic and Nordic composers including Maija Einfelde, Mārtiņš Viļums, Gundega Šmite, Toivo Tulev, Lasse Thoresen, Gavin Bryars and Andris Dzenitis. He has also initiated several drama projects in collaboration with visual and theatre artists, and has worked extensively with young singers and conductors, including as Artistic Director of the Tenso Europe Chamber Choir in 2013–2017.

Autumn 2023 saw the release of Putniņš’ first album recording with the Swedish Radio Choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra and Vier doppelchörige Gesänge, recorded with Swedish organist Johan Hammarström. His wide-ranging discography also includes recordings of Pēteris Vasks’ Māte saule, Jonathan Harvey’s The Angels, Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil and Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir. His recording with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir of Schnittke’s Psalms of Repentance and Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis was awarded both the Gramophone Award and Diapason d’Or in 2018.

Kaspars Putniņš has been awarded two of Latvia’s foremost awards for his musicianship: the Grand Music Prize Lielā mūzikas balva and the Council of Ministers Award for Achievements in Culture and Science. For his contributions to Estonian music life as Chief Conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, he was awarded the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Award in 2019. Putniņš grew up in Riga, Latvia, and was only 26 years old when he was first hired as conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir.

Etienne Glaser is an actor, director and scriptwriter born in Copenhagen. During World War II, when Etienne was six years old, his family was forced to flee to Sweden. After graduating at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy, Glaser worked as a theatre and opera director in Sweden and abroad. He has worked as an actor, and later director, at the film and stage director Suzanne Osten’s theatre Unga Klara in Stockholm, which stages productions for children and young adults. Glaser participated in her films Mamma, Bröderna Mozart, Livsfarlig film, Skyddsängel, Tala! Det är så mörkt and Besvärliga människor. He also wrote the script for Bröderna Mozart, Livsfarlig film and Skyddsängeln. Today, Glaser is a popular reciter and public speaker.

Approximate concert length: 1 h 30 min (no intermission)