The Choral Conductor of the Month chooses...

The tradition of the "Swedish choral miracle" continues! Swedish choirs and Swedish choral music have received great international interest and acclaim in recent decades. In 2020, we meet some of the conductors who make the Swedish choral music come to life. Once a month, a conductor sends us a video greeting to tell about a piece of Swedish choral music – music that is special to them.

#1 Danish conductor of innovative vocal ensemble VoNo, LONE LARSEN, who tells us about Lars-Erik Larsson's A God Disguised, perhaps the most Swedish music of all

#2 Professor of choral conducting in the most northern of Music Colleges in Sweden, ERIK WESTBERG, about Carl Unander-Scharin's The Cloud of Unknowing, a commission for Erik Westberg's Vocal Ensemble

#3 Artistic Director of world famous male choir Orphei Drängar and Professor of Orchestral Conducting, CECILIA RYDINGER, about one of Sweden's most beloved choral songs: Kung Liljekonvalje by David Wikander

#4 2018 Swedish Choral Conductor of the Year, ALEXANDER EINARSSON, shares his fascination for the very personal composer's voice of Ulrika Emanuelsson in her Dancing on the Crater's Edge (Dans på kraterns rand). 

#5 Legendary conductor and passionate choral improvisation coach GUNNAR ERIKSSON speaks about Sven-Eric Johanson's Åtta visor, eight Swedish folk tunes in creative arrangements.

#6 A Russian in the middle of the Swedish choral music life, MARIA GONDOURINA shares her passion for Anna-Karin Klockar's Speeches, three fascinating texts "in a ingenious setting".

#7 Chief Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, RAGNAR BOHLIN, gives us a declaration of love for "one of the greatest choral pieces ever written": Ingvar Lidholm's ...a riveder le stelle.

#8 "How is it possible for an American composer to write music that sounds so Swedish?" asks SOFIA ÅGREN of Matthew Peterson's Ljusfälten.

#9 GARY GRADEN shares his love for Agneta Sköld's Den levande Maria (The living Mary). 

 

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If you are interested in Swedish choral music, Gerhmans has a new subscription: SweChoral, with music selected for non-Swedish speaking choirs. The SweChoral subscription presents 3–5 new high quality choral works in two mailings a year and includes works suitable for both the intermediate as well as the advanced choir.