SEMF 2021
Stockholm Early Music Festival 2021
1- 6 th June • Old Town
PLEASE OBSERVE: below you will find the anniversary programme for XX Stockholm Early Music Festival, 1-6 June 2021. However, due to the current societal situation, the number of on-site tickets are limited, but you have also the option to purchase online live streaming tickets to the main concerts. Please keep yourself informed via our website, newsletter and social media for the latest news. The site is being updated. All programme points are subject to change.
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  Ricardo Atienza tells about RecercAndo La Folia is one of the earliest European musical themes. RecercAndo invites us to ex plore its multiple forms and variations as we walk through the Old Town, hand in hand with Corelli, Ortiz and Lully along Svartmangatan, Stortorget and Trädgårdsgatan. 30 MAY–6 JUNE, EVERY DAY 1.00–2.00 PM & 7.00–8.00 PM In collaboration with Konstfack and The Embassy of Spain |
13:00 - 20:00 |
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A) INFORMATION ABOUT TICKET PURCHASES FOR ONLINE LIVE STREAMING Long live SEMF! Live streaming has come to stay as a valuable complement to the on-site experience. Listen and watch selected SEMF concerts live via the internet! HOW DO I BUY MY ONLINE LIVE STREAMING TICKET? You can already buy a ticket for the live streaming of your favourite concert today! Under the ’Programme’ tab and to the right of each programme item that is available for broadcast (under the usual ’Buy ticket’ button), you will find a BLUE ’Live streaming’ button. When you click on it, you will come to a page where you buy a link to the concert. The price for the live-streamed experience is 10 €, corresponding to about 102 kr, which you can pay by credit card. You will then automatically receive an email to your specified email address, with the link to the live-streamed concert. HOW DO I BUY MY ONLINE LIVE STREAMING SEMFESTIVAL PASS? You do this by clicking on the BLUE ’Live streaming’ button HERE on the right. The price for all live-streamed concert experiences is a total of 50 €, corresponding to approximately 508 kr. IMPORTANT! The unpredictable development of the Covid-19 pandemic could affect the festival's programme content, so in purchasing the Online SEMFestival Pass you accept the scope and offerings of the event in its final form 1-6 June. If you miss the live broadcast time, you can go to semf.se for 30 days from the event and buy the link to the recorded concert through the same procedure. B) INFORMATION ON PURCHASING ON-SITE SEMFESTIVAL PASSES The SEMFestival pass gives you entry to Stockholm Early Music Festival 2021. IMPORTANT! The unpredictable development of the Covid-19 pandemic could affect the festival's programme content, so in purchasing the Online SEMFestival Pass you accept the scope and offerings of the event in its final form 1-6 June. In the German Church, holders of festival passes can choose a dedicated place (same place for all evening concerts) within lines 6-8-10 in the A-section. At SEMF's other arenas, there are no seat numbers. We ask SEMFestival passholders to show up no less than 15 minutes before the concert! HOW DO I BUY MY ON-SITE SEMFestival PASS? You can buy the festival pass by clicking on the ’Buy ticket’ button to the right. You can then exchange a print-out of your electronic ticket for a physical SEMFestival pass at SEMF's ticket office, open during the festival week, 1-6 June. You can also order your SEMFestival pass by calling 072-224 42 42 during SEMF's phone hours, weekends and Tuesdays at 10.00-12.00 and Thursdays at 13.00-15.00 You will then receive an invoice by post. After payment, you can pick up your physical SEMFestival pass at SEMF's ticket office. SEMFestival PASSES PRICE AND VALIDITY. The SEMFestival pass costs 2380 kr. A printed copy of SEMF's festival programme book is included in the price! Please note that the number of festival passes is limited and that the pass is valid for all events except the Early Late Night Concert and Early Music for Children. NOTE! Regarding Tableaux Vivants, the pass only applies to the performance on Friday 4 June at 16.00. SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations, and enables physical distancing so that you can feel safe in your place. Therefore, we sell fewer passes and tickets (the maximum ceiling will be 50 people per concert venue). SEMF provides facemasks at the entrance. PS: You can of course also buy individual tickets to your favorite concerts! Subject to change. |
19:00 - 21:00Live streaming |
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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.
To attend the inauguration, you need a valid ticket (on-site or online) to the opening concert at 20.00. SEMF blocks rows and seats in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enable physical distancing. Subject to change. 19.05: 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 25 minutes before the start of the Opening Ceremony! In Swedish. |
19:30 - 20:00The German Church |
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 Inauguration concert with Vivaldi's masterpiece - for the first time at SEMF! The Four Seasons as you have never heard them before: exuberant, crackling, and virtuosic, as interpreted by internationally active violinist, conductor and star countertenor, Dmitry Sinkovsky's. With his impeccable technique and distinctive colourful appearance, he elegantly merges with his ensemble La Voce Strumentale (Moscow) into an energetic yet dignified body of sound. The programme also includes works by Leclair, Jacquet de la Guerre and Boismortier. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 490 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
20:00 - 22:00The German ChurchLive streaming |
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Exclusive thousand-year-old throat song from the Tuva region in Russian Siberia, a captivating sound cosmos that became an international success! Experience the mysterious and nature-inspired folk music tradition where a single singer sings in parts with himself! The Huun-Huur-Tu quartet has reconstructed and developed Tuva's ancient musical heritage and toured around the world with it since the 1990s. 19.30 Half an hour before the concert – 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 30 minutes before the start of the concert! In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 450 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
20:00 - 22:00The German ChurchLive streaming |
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Early Music in our everyday lives - sing-along - BaroquekaraokeAnna-Katarina Schatzl • Peter Pontvik • Michael DierksSing-a-SEMFCelebrate SEMF´s anniversary by joining us! Many well-known early music loops surround us in our everyday lives without us perhaps being aware of it. Come, listen, sing out, remember or discover some of those together with no other than SEMF´s artistic director and assistant producer! In Swedish. TICKETS •On-site: 100 SEK. SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change! |
12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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MEET the Swedish Radio profile VASSILIS BOLONASSOS.
In Swedish. TICKETS • On-site: 100 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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Since the 16th century, the trumpet has represented the glory and power of the court like no other group of musicians. Fanfares were performed at court festivities and ballets. The brilliant German Trumpet-Organ-Duo Görg & Riedel specialised on this repertoire, presents a multifaceted and virtuosic programme including works by Frescobaldi, D. Gabrieli and J S Bach. In cooperation with The German Embassy TICKETS •Online-Livestreaming: 10 € •On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
17:30 - 18:30The Finnish Church Live streaming |
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 The versatile court singer Anne Sofie von Otter, one of Sweden's best known mezzo-sopranos, needs no further introduction. In this long-anticipated visit to SEMF, she enchants us with Elizabethan musical treasures of shepherd songs and love ballads, but also with Italian Renaissance pearls and a touch of baroque pop. With the suberb accompaniment of award-winning French harpichordist Jean Rondeau and theorbist Thomas Dunford. 19.30 Half an hour before the concert – 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 30 minutes before the start of the concert! In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 490 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
20:00 - 22:00The German ChurchLive streaming |
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At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music! Dream Away to a world of gregorian chant and cantus firmus, a medieval composition technique used in several masterpieces. The Ensemble CANTUS FIRMUS consists of three internationally profiled singers with base in Spain. In collboration with the Embassy of Spain and PICE TICKETS •On-site: 180 SEK. Performances also Friday 4/6 11.00 PM and Saturday 5/6 11.00 PM. Limited number of matlesses/seats. Please note that the SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this performance! SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
22:30 - 23:15The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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Children's songs and instrumental music for the very smallest ones. Sing, listen and dance togehter with your child in this concert of early music nature. Heidi Rohlin Westin is a freelance musician and recorder player. Alexander Lundberg is an organ player and choir conductor, educated in Malmö and Paris. For children 3-7 months and parents. We are sitting on carpets on the floor. Please have with you your own towel or a lilttle blanket for your child. In Swedish. TICKETS •On-site: 50 SEK (adults). SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change! |
10:30 - 11:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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What is a Surprise Concert? You know neither the artist nor the programme but you come anyway. Because you are curious. Because it’s exciting. Because everything old is al ways new at SEMF! TICKETS • Online live streaming: 5 € • On-site: 150 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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The public theatres in Shakespeare's London resounded with voices and music. But what characters sang? What did they sing? Through examples from plays by William Shakespeare and his playwright colleagues, this talk explores song as a dramatic driving force and a dynamic moment of performance. Elisabeth Lutteman is a researcher and teacher in English literature and also holds a degree in music education. In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 5 € • On-site: 100 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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 Direct from Naples! Caravaggio (A)live! transports the audience to a spiritual world, where visual and theatre arts overlap in perfect harmony. Using the tableau vivant technique, the actors compose Caravaggio's masterpieces with their bodies, creating strong but simple visual effects. The rhythmic flow of the performance is enhanced by (recorded) music by Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi, among others. LudovicaRambelliTeatro has been committed to preserving the art of tableaux vivants for the afterlife. In collaboration with the Embassy of Italy TICKETS • On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
16:00 - 16:40The Finnish Church |
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Direct from Naples! Caravaggio (A)live! transports the audience to a spiritual world, where visual and theatre arts overlap in perfect harmony. Using the tableau vivant technique, the actors compose Caravaggio's masterpieces with their bodies, creating strong but simple visual effects. The rhythmic flow of the performance is enhanced by (recorded) music by Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi, among others. LudovicaRambelliTeatro has been committed to preserving the art of tableaux vivants for the afterlife. In collaboration with the Embassy of Italy • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. LudovicaRambelliTeatro |
18:00 - 18:40The Finnish Church Live streaming |
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 NB! THIS CONCERT REPLACES THE EARLIER ANNOUNCED PERFORMANCE OF TENEBRAE (GB). Dream away with the beauty and art of intensely virile vocal sound with Medieval Gregorian chants from Northern European and Late Medieval polyphonic repertoires from Limoges! For more than two decades, award nominee Schola Cantorum Riga has regularly performed Gregorian chant at a high artistic level across Europe, sometimes including hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes as "guest" instruments. A spectacular revelation! 20.00 Half an hour before the concert – 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 30 minutes before the start of the concert! In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 450 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change.
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20:30 - 22:30The German ChurchLive streaming |
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At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music! Dream Away to a world of gregorian chant and cantus firmus, a medieval composition technique used in several masterpieces. The Ensemble CANTUS FIRMUS consists of three internationally profiled singers with base in Spain. In collboration with the Embassy of Spain and PICE TICKETS •On-site: 180 SEK. Limited number of matlesses/seats. Please note that the SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this performance! SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
23:00 - 23:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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An interactive crazy somersault in time, as well as an imaginative performance about the “La Folia” tune’s own musical history. Join two dancers and three musicians on their journey from rightnow to alongtimeago. A SEMF produced time adventure for everyone from 6 years. Directed by Emelie Wahlman. In Swedish. With the support of Musikverket. TICKETS: •On-site 50 SEK (children up to 12 years) 100 SEK (adults). NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert! SEMF is blocking rows and seats in order to maintain physical distancing according to the Public Health Authority in Sweden. Subject to changes! |
10:00 - 10:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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An interactive crazy somersault in time, as well as an imaginative performance about the “La Folia” tune’s own musical history. Join two dancers and three musicians on their journey from rightnow to alongtimeago. A SEMF produced time adventure for everyone from 6 years. Directed by Emelie Wahlman. In Swedish. With the support of Musikverket. TICKETS: •Online live streaming 5 € •On-site 50 SEK (children up to 12 years) 100 SEK (adults). NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert! SEMF is blocking rows and seats in order to maintain physical distancing according to the Public Health Authority in Sweden. Subject to changes! |
12:00 - 12:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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Direct from Naples! Caravaggio (A)live! transports the audience to a spiritual world, where visual and theatre arts overlap in perfect harmony. Using the tableau vivant technique, the actors compose Caravaggio's masterpieces with their bodies, creating strong but simple visual effects. The rhythmic flow of the performance is enhanced by (recorded) music by Mozart, Bach and Vivaldi, among others. LudovicaRambelliTeatro has been committed to preserving the art of tableaux vivants for the afterlife. In collaboration with the Embassy of Italy TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
12:00 - 12:40The Finnish Church |
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Cheers to a mature youngster! - Stockholm Early Music Festival celebrates 20 years! Come and see posters, pictures and articles. Don´t miss the opportunity to buy the brand new anniversary book "Framtidig musik - Futurearly Music"! ADMISSION FREE! In cooperation with Mäster Olofsgården. |
13:00 - 18:00Mäster Olofsgården |
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Now almost forgotten, the play ‘Birger Jarl’, with music by Francesco Antonio Uttini and Henrik Philip Johnsen among others, and text by Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg after a sketch by King Gustav III, had its premiere in 1774. During this panel discussion, experts in 18th century opera will participate: Susanne Rydén, president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music as a moderator, and Mark Tatlow as musical introducer and artistic leader of the musical elements of the seminar.
Live streamed seminar. In English. ADMISSION FREE. Limited number of on-site places, so email your interest to: maria@semf.se no later than the 1st of June. In collaboration with Royal Academy of Music SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
14:00 - 15:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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  Beautiful musical-poetic weavings around Christine de Pizan, the first female professional writer of Europe and the late Middle Ages. 'The City of Ladies' is a tribute to Pizan, with music by her contemporaries Gilles Binchois and Guillaume Dufay inspired by the phrasing of her texts. Multi-disciplinary artist and researcher Catalina Vicens brings together established singers and instrumentalists. The ensemble has toured in Europe and the USA. In collaboration with The Embassy of Chile TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
18:00 - 19:00The Finnish Church Live streaming |
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 EVENING CONCERTNew Collegium (The Netherlands) Dir: Claudio RibeiroQuADRAPHONIC BACH - HARPSICHORDS 4EVERExperience fireworks in this rare work by J S Bach in which the soloists constitute a crescendo in themselves. Bach's concertos for 2-4 harpsichords guarantee a memorable evening. The award-winning ensemble New Collegium (The Netherlands), led by harpsichordist Claudio Ribeiro, is acclaimed for its straightforward and precise interpretations as well as for its rhetorical freedom. Described by the French press as ’beautiful musical gratification’. In collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands 18.30 Half an hour before the concert – 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 30 minutes before the start of the concert! In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 470 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
20:30 - 22:30The German ChurchLive streaming |
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At the EARLY LATE NIGHT CONCERT, you lay down comfortably on a mattres while listening to relaxed early music! Dream Away to a world of gregorian chant and cantus firmus, a medieval composition technique used in several masterpieces. The Ensemble CANTUS FIRMUS consists of three internationally profiled singers with base in Spain. In collboration with the Embassy of Spain and PICE TICKETS •Online livestreaming: 5 € •On-site: 180 SEK. Limited number of matlesses/seats. Please note that the SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this performance! SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
23:00 - 23:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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An interactive crazy somersault in time, as well as an imaginative performance about the “La Folia” tune’s own musical history. Join two dancers and three musicians on their journey from rightnow to alongtimeago. A SEMF produced time adventure for everyone from 6 years. Directed by Emelie Wahlman. In Swedish. With the support of Musikverket. TICKETS: •On-site 50 SEK (children up to 12 years) 100 SEK (adults). NB! SEMFestivalpass is not valid for this concert! SEMF is blocking rows and seats in order to maintain physical distancing according to the Public Health Authority in Sweden. Subject to changes! |
10:00 - 10:45The Stockholm Cathedral Parish Hall |
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Cheers to a mature youngster! - Stockholm Early Music Festival celebrates 20 years! Come and see posters, pictures and articles. Don´t miss the opportunity to buy the brand new anniversary book "Framtidig musik - Futurearly Music"! ADMISSION FREE! In cooperation with Mäster Olofsgården. |
12:00 - 17:00Mäster Olofsgården |
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Almost all Euroean countries have had their own bagpipe types and traditions, but most faded away as about the same time as the Swedish one. Why? And why did this not happen i Scotland?
In this storytelling concert, the Riksspelman (piper of hte realm) Olle Gällmo plays early Swedish folk music and tells the fantastic story of how the bagpipe from the Swedish region Västerdalarna was rediscovered. In Swedish. TICKETS Online live-streaming: 5 € •On-site: 150 SEK. SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change! |
12:00 - 13:00The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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Did you know that Carmina Burana, best known as Carl Orff's choral work from the 20th century, is originally a famous medieval manuscript from central Europe with Latin hymns and folk love poems from the 13th century? Lars Jonsson, leader of the NoMeMus festival, talks about the wandering vagrants who created these and shapes and deepens the seminar with both live and recorded music and lyric examples. In Swedish. BILJETTER •Online live-streaming: 5 € •On-site: 100 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change! |
13:30 - 14:30The Stockholm Cathedral Parish HallLive streaming |
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Commedia dell’Arte's colours and feelings, playfully mirrored in French-Italian Baroque dance through Telemann's recorder fantasies. The theatrical Harlequin's talent for versatility is displayed as "stylus fantasticus" humour and mystery are given new life. The French company Les Corps Eloquents specialises in dance repertoires and styles from the early Renaissance to the late Baroque. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 250 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
15:00 - 16:00The Finnish Church Live streaming |
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Olé! When 17th-century Spanish musicians brought traditional rhythms from Naples, Portugal or South America into the fine rooms of the kingdom, a new world of music was created. ’Globalisation’ reached the court of Versailles and even greats such as J S Bach and Scarlatti wrote chaconnes, folias and canaries. Rediscover this passionate and improvisational repertoire as top Andalusian ensemble Accademia del Piacere performs with challenging musicality and impressive technique! In collaboration with the Embassy of Spain and PICE 18.30 Half an hour before the concert – 10 minutes with Vassilis: If you want to learn more about the performed music; with a valid ticket or pass to one of the evening concerts in the German Church, come and listen to Vassilis Bolonassos, 30 minutes before the start of the concert! In Swedish. TICKETS • Online live streaming: 10 € • On-site: 470 SEK SEMF blocks rows and places in accordance with the Swedish Public Health Agency's recommendations and enables physical distancing. Subject to change. |
19:00 - 21:15The German ChurchLive streaming |
