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SEMF 2019

Stockholm Early Music Festival 2019
June 4 – 9 2019 • Old Town

                                                                         THE PROGRAMME MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Flyer 2019Download the SEMF 2019
folder here (PDF, 2 MB).

Tuesday 4 June 2019 - Sunday 9 June 2019

PLEASE READ THIS INFORMATION BEFORE PURCHASING YOUR SEMFESTIVALPASS!

The SEMFestivalpass gives you entrance to Stockholm Early Music Festival 2019.

In The German Church you can choose your own permanent seat (the same seat for all evening concerts) within the rows 5-6-7 in the A-section.   

You purchase your SEMFestivalpass by clicking on the "Buy ticket"-button on the right side.  The printed electronic ticket is then exchanged for a “physical” SEMFestival pass, directly at SEMF's ticket office, open during the festival week 3-9 June.

OR

Order your SEMFestivalpass by phone during SEMF's opening hours, non-holiday Tuesdays 10 am - 12 noon and Thursdays 1 pm - 3 pm. You will then receive a paying-in form sent by regular mail. After payment, you are welcome to pick up your “physical” SEMFestival pass at SEMF's ticket office during the festival week 3-9 June.

NB! In SEMF's remaining concert venues seats ar not numbered. We kindly ask SEMFestivalpass owners to appear 15 minutes before the concert, at the latest. We recommend SEMFestivalpass owners to arrive no later than 15 minutes before the beginning of the concert!

A printed copy of the festival programme booklet is included!

The price for the SEMFestivalpass is 1 980 SEK.   

Please note that there is a limited amount of passes and that the SEMFestivalpass is valid for all events except the Early Late Night Concert.

You can of course also puchase single tickets for your favorite concerts! 

19:29 - 20:30
Tuesday 4 June 2019

Stockholm Early Music Festival | Photo: Iman Khayyatan

The Royal Couple | Photo: Foto: Peter Knutson

The XVIII Stockholm Early Music Festival 2019 is inaugurated with splendour! Welcome!

Participation during the opening ceremony requires a valid ticket for the opening concert at 8 pm.  

 

 

The opening ceremony takes place in the presence of Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. The audience is kindly asked to take their seats at 7.25 pm at the latest.

19:30 - 20:00The German Church

Mariangiola Martello |

Ferdinando & Cristina - a Medici wedding 1589 |

The wedding of Duke Ferdinando I de Medici and Princess Christina of Lorraine in 1589 in Florence was one of history´s most spectacular scenic events. SEMF opens big with the recreation of festive intermediates or intervals; songs and dances composed by the most famous composers of that time: Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, Luca Marenzio...

Camerata La Pellegrina consists of  several of Sweden´s foremost instrumentalists, singers and dancers specializing in historial performance practice in 16th and 17th century music, under the musical direction of Mariangiola Martello.  In cooperation with Swedish vocal ensemble Vokalharmonin (Fredrik Malmberg).

The concert is given in the presence of Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. The audience is kindly asked to take their seats at 7.25 pm at the latest.

NB! No intermission!

Tickets: 100 / 220 / 350 / 450 SEK.

20:00 - 21:15The German Church
Wednesday 5 June 2019

SolRoos Duo |

The lute and the recorder belong to the oldest instruments of the European music history. Emelie Roos and Dohyo Sol, Swedish virtuosos on their respective instruments, invite you to a colourful program with poetic elements - various musical worlds, artistic styles and expressions in a journey from the 12th to the 17th century. Works by John Dowland, Michelangelo Galilei and Giovanni Battista Fontana.

Tickets: 120 SEK

 

12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Vassilis Bolonassos | Photo: Sarah Tehranian

In Sweden a lot of people remember one of Swedish Radio´s most popular program ever when it comes to early music: "Always on a Sunday" (Alltid på en söndag) with Vassilis Bolonassos. Now you have the chance to relive it LIVE - on a Wednesday!

In Swedish.

Tickets: 100 SEK

14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Ballroom dancing in the 18th century | Photo: Anna Löfgren

Come and try the favourites among ballroom dances from the 18th century! Dance pedagogue Anna Löfgren teaches movements from some of the most popular 18th century dances, accompanied by live music on authentic instruments. With Rebecka Karlsson, baroque violin and others.   Free admission!

 

17:00 - 18:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Sisters Gogochuri | Photo: Badri Vadachkoria

© Irena Docenko | Photo: Father Seraphim

How did one sing during Jesus´ time? Expect a peculiar music experience full of mystery when Father Seraphim (Ikhtiandr Bitbunov), from Georgia and of Assyrian ethnicity with vocal ensemble sings in Aramaic - the 2 500 year old language that Jesus from Nazareth spoke. Father Seraphim became world famous when he performed in front of the Pope in 2016. Mariam, Tamari, Manana and Ketevan Gogochuri are four colourful singing sisters from the mountain area in the north-eastern region of Georgia who this evening will represent the country´s traditional folk music.  

In cooperation with the Embassy of Georgia.

Tickets: 100 / 180 / 300 / 400 SEK

 

20:30 - 22:30The German Church

Sophia & Anna Danilevskaïa & Perrine Devillers | Photo: Elam Rotem

Iman Khayyatan | Photo: Nattkonsert

At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music - this time in complete darkness

Perrine Devillers, Sophia and Anna Danilevskaïa move you to a suggestive world that evokes four blind fiddlers' lives - two brothers and one's two sons - who flourished in Bruges, Burgundy in the 15th century. A unique concept that you do not want to miss!

Tickets: 150 SEK - Limited number of matresses/seats.

NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert!

23:00 - 23:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall
Thursday 6 June 2019

Mamadou Sene | Photo: ©KMH

Mamadou Sene is one of Sweden's most renown world musicians, born in Senegal. During this concert he guide us, together with percussionist Lamine Touré, into West Africa's traditional nomad music. Mamadou sings and plays his riti - the one-stringed violin of the sub-Saharan Africa.

Tickets: 120 kr

12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Ingrid Åkesson | Photo: ⓒ Lars Lindgren

What did Swedish popular hymn singing sound like two hundred years ago? 20th-century documentation provides keys to a tradition which has travelled from Swedish-speaking Estonia via the Russian colony Gammalsvenskby and back to the Baltic area. Ingrid Åkesson, ethnomusicologist and song scholar focusing on vocal traditions, gives a seminar about ornamented, modal traditional hymn tunes and the people who sang them.

Tickets 100 SEK.

14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Viking Barock | Photo: Drottningholms Barockensemble

When children and youngsters play together with one of the Nordic region's top baroque ensembles, it happens! The Vikings' trips and cultural exchanges show the way to the "modern" baroque world where classics such as Telemann, Rameau, Roman, Lully, Vivaldi and Purcell come to speak.  

Participants: students from Nacka Music School and Solna Kulturskola and Drottningholm Baroque ensemble. Compère: Olof Larsson and Björg Ollén (in Swedish!). 

Tickets: 100 SEK (Free admission for children up to 12 years). Admission: 15 min before the performance.

16:00 - 16:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

L'Aura Rilucente | Photo: Mar Ruiz

A journey through the colours and styles of the 17th and 18th century Italy. Imagination, thoughts and creativity are drawn with the crayons of the form. Let yourself be seduced by the young award-winning ensemble L'Aura Rilucente who has achieved international success in a short time.  

In cooperation with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura - Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm

Tickets 100 / 250 SEK.  L'Aura Rilucente
17:30 - 18:30The Finnish Church

Skip Sempé | Photo: Marco Borggreve

USA-born Skip Sempé is today considered one of the world's most reknown cembalist and is also the leader of the ensemble Cappriccio Stravagante. Particularly his interpretations of French classical harpsichord literature and early English repertoire for the instrument have become critically acclaimed. On his first Stockholm visit, Sempé intends to charm the Swedish audience with works by Byrd, Inglot, Frescobaldi and Louis Couperin.

Tickets: 100 / 200 / 320 / 420 SEK.

Skip Sempé
20:00 - 22:00The German Church
Friday 7 June 2019

A'baronin Ensemble Riga | Photo: A'baronin Ensemble Riga

With The Next Generation, SEMF focuses on early music students and rising stars. 

This programme enhances some beautiful vocal treasures - a mix of secular and sacred a cappella repertoire celebrating the greatness of Renaissance vocal music and some touches of Baroque.

Tickets: 100 SEK. 

12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Fritz Heller | Photo: Saskia van der Wel

Player and maker of Renaissance woodwind instruments Fritz Heller introduces some of the most important wind instruments of the 16thcentury. Topics will be the history and use of those instruments, the principles of their construction and some practical demonstrations of their sound and playing characteristics.

In English!

Tickets 100 SEK. 

Blasende Instrumente
14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Silfver Trio | Photo: Jörgen Bergström

Books containing repertoire by "spelmän" (Nordic folk music players) are the 18th and 19th century equivalent to the playlists of today. In those anthologies musicians compiled melodies to the most popular contemporary fashion dances, sometimes circuited with hits that already where "passé", but still popular.  Silfver Trio - Pelle Björnlert (violin), Johan Hedin (keyed fiddle) och Nora Roll (viol) - are with their brilliant playing, rich of varities, belonging to the top of the folk and baroque musicians in Sweden. 

Tickets 100 / 250 SEK.

Johan Hedin
18:00 - 19:00The Finnish Church

Cappella Mediterranea & Chœur de Chambre de Namur | Photo: © Bertrand Pichene

Leonardo García Alarcón | Photo: © Jean-Baptiste Millot

Fiesta! After the discovery of America, the Spanish and the Portugese exported their vocal polyphony to the "New World", where it in sacred and spiritual frames got enriched and transformed through the transposition of local folk traditions. Explore those Ibero-american musical treasures with the successful Belgian - French ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, founded 2005 by its conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcón - visiting SEMF and Sweden for the very first time! 

Music by Araújo, Victoria och Torrejón y Velasco and others. 

In cooperation with the Belgian Embassy.

Tickets: 100 / 220 / 350 / 450 SEK. 

20:30 - 22:30The German Church

Perrine Devillers, Sophia & Anna Danilevskaïa | Photo: Elam Rotem

Iman Khayyatan | Photo: Nattkonserten

At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music - this time in complete darkness! 

Perrine Devillers, Sophia and Anna Danilevskaïa move you to a suggestive world that evokes four blind fiddlers' lives - two brothers and one's two sons - who flourished in Bruges, Burgundy in the 15th century. A unique concept that you do not want to miss!

Tickets: 150 SEK - Limited number of matresses/seats.

NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert!

23:00 - 23:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall
Saturday 8 June 2019

Gastón Apablaza | Photo: © Andrés Hernández

Follow the Archlute in Italian early music history through three centuries - an introspective and at the same time energizing experience! Chilean lute player and pedagogue Gastón Apablaza performs works by da Milano, Merula and Zamboni Romano.

Tickets: 120 SEK.

Gastón Apablaza
12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Fredmans Musik & Fritz Heller | Photo: Fredmans Musik & Fritz Heller

Gastón Apablaza & Elena Dal Cortivo | Photo: Gastón Apablaza & Elena Dal Cortivo

Matthew Farley & Thijs van Baarsel | Photo: Matthew Farley & Thijs van Baarsel

Andrew Brown | Photo: Andrew Brown

SEMF presents an exclusive exhibition of historical instruments. European instrument builders show and sell their treasures.                                                                                                                                     

The following exhibitors participate:

Matthew Farley, Violas da gamba, violas da braccio, fiddels, Poland.

Thijs van Baarsel, Renaissance and Baroque Traverso Maker, France.

Fritz Heller, Renaissance woodwinds, Netherlands.

Elena Dal Cortivo, Handmade parchment roses for harpsichords and baroque guitars, Italy. 

Andrew Brown, Baroque cello, baroque violin, and viola di gamba, Sweden.

Gastón Apablaza, Handcarved viellas, Chile / Sweden.

Free entrance!

In cooperation with Mäster Olofsgården.

13:00 - 18:00Mäster Olofsgården

Anna Danilevskaïa | Photo: Elam Rotem

Freedom of speech and mind is rarely associated with our image of medieval culture. However, thanks to witty allusions and double meanings, we can discover a whole world behind apparently innocent texts. Anna Danilevskaïa, fiddle player and Middle Ages researcher, examines how this freedom is expressed, in text and subtext, through the music of the Middle Ages. 

Tickets 100 SEK.

 

14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Viking Barock | Photo: Drottningholms Barockensemble

When children and youngsters play together with one of the Nordic region's top baroque ensembles, it happens! The Vikings' trips and cultural exchanges show the way to the "modern" baroque world where classics such as Telemann, Rameau, Roman, Lully, Vivaldi and Purcell come to speak.  

Participants: students from Nacka Music School and Solna Kulturskola and Drottningholm Baroque ensemble. Compère: Olof Larsson and Björg Ollén (in Swedish!). 

Tickets: 100 SEK (Free admission for children up to 12 years). Admission: 15 min before the performance.

16:00 - 16:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Ars Choralis Coeln | Photo: © Peter Hölscher

The now sainted Hildegard von Bingen´s religious visions of sound and light, and her work as a writer and composer have been well known since the 13th century. Hildegard´s creative power revolves around the "harmonic structure of the soul" and she has left behind a great treasure of liturgical songs. Welcome to sink into this unique woman´s mysterious world - with Ars Choralis Coeln and Maria Jonas, a musical powerhouse in the service of medieval music.

In cooperation with the Goethe-Institute and the Embassy of Germany.

Tickets: 100 / 250 SEK

 

Ars Choralis Coeln
18:00 - 19:00The Finnish Church

Rheinische Kantorer / Das kleine Konzert | Photo: ⓒ Thomas Kost

Hermann Max | Photo: ⓒ Thomas Kost

Johann Sebastian Bach never wrote a "real" opera but with Kaffekantate, Bauernkantate and even the cantata Phoebus und Pan the master is getting close to the dramatical and comical forms of expression. Take the opportunity and enjoy those wonderful works with Das Kleine Konzert/Rheinische Kantorei under the direction of Hermann Max - soloists and the ensemble praised for their "unshakeable homogen and at the same time lively-glittering timbre". 

In cooperation with Goethe-Institute and the Embassy of Germany.

Tickets: 100 / 220 / 350 / 450 SEK.

Rheinische Kantorei / Das kleine Konzert
20:30 - 22:30The German Church

Sophia & Anna Danilevskaïa & Perrine Devillers | Photo: Elam Rotem

Nattkonsert | Photo: Iman Khayyatan

At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music - this time in complete darkness! 

Perrine Devillers, Sophia and Anna Danilevskaïa move you to a suggestive world that evokes four blind fiddlers' lives - two brothers and one's two sons - who flourished in Bruges, Burgundy in the 15th century. A unique concept that you do not want to miss!

Tickets: 150 SEK - Limited number of matresses/seats.

NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert!

23:00 - 23:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall
Sunday 9 June 2019

Photo: Iman Khayyatan

SURPRISE CONCERT

What is a Surprise Concert? You don’t know either the artist or the program but you come anyway. Because you are courious. Because it’s exciting. Because everything old is always new at SEMF!

Tickets: 120 SEK

12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Fredmans Musik & Fritz Heller | Photo: Fredmans Musik & Fritz Heller

Gastón Apablaza & Elena Dal Cortivo | Photo: Gastón Apablaza & Elena Dal Cortivo

Matthew Farley & Thijs van Baarsel | Photo: Matthew Farley & Thijs van Baarsel

Andrew Brown | Photo: Andrew Brown

SEMF presents an exclusive exhibition of historical instruments. European instrument builders show and sell their treasures.                                                                                                                                     

The following exhibitors participate:

Matthew Farley, violas da gamba, violas da braccio, fiddels, Poland.

Thijs van Baarsel, Renaissance and Baroque Traverso Maker, France.

Fritz Heller, Renaissance woodwinds, Netherlands.

Elena Dal Cortivo, handmade parchment roses for harpsichords and baroque guitars, Italy. 

Andrew Brown, Baroque cello, baroque violin, and viola di gamba, Sweden.

Gastón Apablaza, Handcarved viellas, Chile / Sweden.

Free entrance!

In cooperation with Mäster Olofsgården.

12:00 - 17:00Mäster Olofsgården

Mahsa Poorramezan | Photo: Danish Saroee

Sufi whirling (or Sufi swing) is a form of physically active meditation derived from Sufism and allows the dancer to become focused in the inner spiritual world by himself. Sama dance is a ritual where the dancer turns as the earth rotates around the sun. The workshop is led by Mahsa Poorramezan.  

Practical information: Comfortable and elastic outfit; pants, top with long or short sleeves and a pair of socks.

Tickets: 100 SEK

14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Viking Barock | Photo: Drottningholms Barockensemble

When children and youngsters play together with one of the Nordic region's top baroque ensembles, it happens! The Vikings' trips and cultural exchanges show the way to the "modern" baroque world where classics such as Telemann, Rameau, Roman, Lully, Vivaldi and Purcell come to speak.  

Participants: students from Nacka Music School and Solna Kulturskola and Drottningholm Baroque ensemble. Compère: Olof Larsson and Björg Ollén (in Swedish!). 

Tickets: 100 SEK (Free admission for children up to 12 years). Admission: 15 min before the performance.

16:00 - 16:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall

Lotz Trio | Photo: Barbora Šebestová

Did you ever hear a basset horn live? Now you have the chance to listen to three at once! This tenor clarinet had its golden age in the end of the 18th century and no one less than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote compositions for this instrument - it even has its places in his famous Requiem. Lotz Trio from Bratislava, some of the basett horn's modern pioneers, are inviting us to a delicious mixture of inspiring contemporary arrangements of melodies from Mozart's operas and more. Late Early Music!

I cooperation with the Slovak Embassy. 

Tickets 100 / 250 SEK. 

Lotz Trio
17:00 - 18:00The Finnish Church

Vincenzo Capezzuto |

Soqquadro Italiano | Photo: soqquadroitaliano

Vincenzo Capezzuto is a multi talented artist. With his individual countertenor as an educationally qualified dancer, he is creating exciting bridges and a dialogue between the chivalrous sounds of the past and street music of today. Round off this year's festival with an opening of your senses for a magical theatrical atmosphere of Italian songs and discover both the simple and the modern in Alessandro Stradella and his contemporaries!

In cooperation with Istituto Italiano di Cultura - The Italian Culture Institute.

NB! No intermission!

Tickets 100 SEK / 180 SEK / 300 SEK / 400 SEK.

 

19:00 - 21:00The German Church