Stockholm Early Music Festival | |
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Genre | Early music |
Dates | First week in June every year. |
Location(s) | Stockholm, Sweden |
Years active | 2002 and ongoing |
Founded by | Peter Pontvik |
Capacity | about 5000 |
Organised by | The largest international event for historical music in the Nordic countries. |
Website | SEMF.se |
Stockholm Early Music Festival (SEMF) is the Nordic region's largest international festival for early music, which since 2002 takes place in early June every year in Stockholm, Sweden. SEMF lasts for a week and focuses on repertoire from Medieval music, Renaissance music and Baroque music. The musicians and singers come from all over the world. The festival also offers a number of seminars. Stockholm Early Music Festival is under the auspices of Queen Silvia. The founder and main person responsible for the festival is the composer and music researcher Peter Pontvik. SEMF also arranges the festival SEMF Christmas Edition, European Day of Early Music (on the 21st of March) and various concert activities all year round under the name Early Music Live!. [1] [2] [3]
Stockholm Early Music Festival's concerts and seminars are organized in The German Church (Swe: Tyska kyrkan), The Finish Church (Swe: Finska kyrkan), The Great Church / The Cathedral Parish Hall (Swe: Storkyrkosalen), (Swe: Storkyrkosalen), The Royal Armoury (Swe: Livrustkammaren), The Medieval Museum (Swe: Medeltidsmuseet) and Mästerolofsgården. All located the Old Town of Stockholm.
Over the years, SEMF has been visited by many early music artists from various countries, including:
Jordi Savall (Spain), Andreas Scholl (Germany), Philippe Jaroussky (France), Les Arts Florissants (France), Anonymous 4 (USA), Freiburger Barockorchester (Germany), Collegium Musicum Wien (Austria), The Tallis Scholars (Great Britain), Il Giardino Armonico (Italy) Huelgas Ensemble (Belgium), Ensemble Villancico (Sweden), Ton Kooopman & Tini Mathot (Netherlands), L'Arpeggiata with Doron Sherwin (Europe), Operabyrån (Sweden), Marco Beasley (Italy), Swedish Vocal Harmony, Lisa Rydberg & Gunnar Idenstam (Sweden), Gothenburg Baroque (Sweden) (Swe: Göteborg Baroque), Swedish Radio Choir (Swe: Radiokören), Ida Falk-Winland (Sweden), Les Paladins (France), Nigel North (England), Trio Mediaeval (Norway), Concentus Musicus Wien (Austria), Sarband (Germany), Elyma (Switzerland), Drottningholms Barockensemble (Sweden), Maria-Christina Kiehr (Switzerland), L'Eventail (France), Hans-Ola Ericsson (Sweden), Kudsi Erguner (Turkey), Dialogos (Croatia), Ensemble Inegal (Czech), L’Aura Rilucente (Hungary), Fader Seraphim (Georgia), Gogochuri Sisters (Georgia), Skip Sempé (USA), Benedek Csalog (Hungary), Orfeus Barockensemble (Sweden), Ensemble Mare Nostrum with conductor Andrea de Carlo (Italy), Ricercar Consort (Belgium) and many more. [4]
Some of the concerts have been broadcast by the BBC. [5] [6] [7] [8]
SEMF operates at the cultural policy level and at the forefront of a number of early music actors in Sweden. The aim is to create a national center and stage for early music and dance. The focus for this purpose is Stockholm's oldest concert hall The Musical Palace (Swe: Musikaliska) built in 1878 at Nybrokajen 11.
In 2006, SEMF laid the foundations for the Nordic-Baltic Early Music Network (NORDEM) and has chaired its counterpart European Early Music Network (REMA) (Fra: Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne) during the years 2011–2015. The festival's artistic director Peter Pontvik is also the initiator of European Day of Early Music.
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt was an Austrian conductor, known for his historically informed performances. He specialized in music of the Baroque period, but later extended his repertoire to include Classical and early Romantic works. Among his best known recordings are those of Bach, whose 193 cantatas he recorded with Gustav Leonhardt.
Hans-Ola Ericsson is a Swedish organist and composer.
Concentus Musicus Wien (CMW) is an Austrian baroque music ensemble based in Vienna. The CMW is recognized as a pioneer of the period-instrument performance movement.
Luca Pianca is a Swiss musician-lutenist whose specialty is archlute. In 1985 he co - founded Il Giardino Armonico., a pioneering Italian early-music ensemble based in Milan. He has premiered works by the contemporary lutenist-composer Roman Turovsky-Savchuk at international festivals, and received numerous international awards for his recordings.
Dorothea Röschmann is a German soprano. She is famous for her performances in operas by Mozart as well as Lieder.
Alice Harnoncourt was an Austrian classical violinist. She was a pioneer in the movement of historically informed performance, founding with her husband Nikolaus Harnoncourt the Concentus Musicus Wien ensemble playing on period instruments, of which she was principal violinist.
David Reichenberg was an American oboist and a highly respected specialist on the baroque oboe. He was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa and learnt the flute, violin, and piano as a child. He began his oboe studies with Dr. Myron E. Russell of the University of Northern Iowa. Beginning in 1969, Reichenberg studied at the Indiana University School of Music, continuing his oboe studies with Jerry Sirucek, former oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Graduating in 1972, Reichenberg moved to Salzburg, where he attended the Mozarteum. It was in Salzburg that Reichenberg met Nikolaus Harnoncourt, director of Concentus Musicus Wien. Reichenberg became increasingly interested in playing the oboe's repertoire on the instrument for which it had been written and, with the assistance of Harnoncourt, moved to Vienna in order to study baroque oboe with Jürg Schäftlein. He simultaneously studied oboe making with Paul Hailperin, building the instrument upon which he played for four years. Reichenberg took part in many concerts and recordings with Concentus Musicus, and gradually increased his activities with that group.
Elisabeth von Magnus is an Austrian classical mezzo-soprano. The daughter of conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and violinist Alice Harnoncourt, her professional name derives from her first marriage to Ernst-Jürgen von Magnus. She studied recorder in Vienna, theater at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and voice with Hertha Töpper at the Conservatory of Munich. Her other teachers included Paul Schilhawsky. Early in her career, she performed as a recorder soloist with the Concentus Musicus Wien. She has also worked for ORF as a presenter and announcer.
Christian Gerhaher is a German baritone and bass singer in opera and concert, particularly known as a Lieder singer.
Hans Thomas Hengelbrock is a German violinist, musicologist, stage director and conductor.
Kurt Equiluz was an Austrian classical tenor in opera and concert. He was a member of the Vienna State Opera as a tenor buffo from 1957 until 1983, remembered for roles such as Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival, including world premieres such as Rolf Liebermann's Penelope in 1954. He recorded works by Johann Sebastian Bach with conductors such as Michel Corboz, Helmuth Rilling and Charles de Wolff, and prominently as the Evangelist in the first recording of Bach's St John Passion on period instruments with the Concentus Musicus Wien in 1965, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Leonhardt-Consort, also known as the Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble, was a group of instrumentalists which its director, the keyboard player Gustav Leonhardt founded in 1955 to play baroque music. The Consort was active until around 1990, although some members including Leonhardt himself continued to perform after that date.
The Monteverdi-Chor Hamburg is a mixed choir in Hamburg, the chamber choir of the University of Hamburg since 1961. Founded in 1955 by Jürgen Jürgens and directed by him until 1994, it is one of Germany's most famous concert choirs. The choir is well known for its interpretations of Baroque and Renaissance music, but covers choral music from the Renaissance to contemporary music. Since 1994, the conductor has been Gothart Stier.
Oliver Widmer is a Swiss operatic bass-baritone whose international career has encompassed lieder, opera, and oratorio. In 1998 he created the role of Jäger in Heinz Holliger's opera Schneewittchen.
Susanne Ingegerd Rydén is a Swedish soprano who has been called "Sweden's most renowned singer specialising in early and classical music". She has performed across Europe and abroad. She is currently the preses (chairman) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Thomas Thomaschke is a German bass singer in opera and concert. He has appeared in parts such as Hunding in Wagner's Die Walküre and Sarastro in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in major opera houses in Europe and international festivals. He has also performed and recorded oratorios and cantatas.
Styriarte is an annual summer festival of classical music in Graz and Styria, Austria, established in 1985. It is focused on Early music, Baroque music and music of the Classical period. Intended to showcase the work of Nikolaus Harnoncourt in his hometown, it grew to locations in the region and survived his death.
Hildegard Heichele is a German soprano in opera, concert and recital. A member of the Oper Frankfurt from 1974, she has appeared in major European opera houses, concert halls and international festivals. She is known for Mozart roles such as Susanna, Blonde and Despina. Heichele is featured on opera recordings, including a DVD of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss from the Royal Opera House in London, and singing concerts, such as the opening of the Alte Oper with Mahler's Eighth Symphony in 1981.
Bach composed Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, as chorale cantata for the Marian feast of the Annunciation, for a first performance in a church service in Leipzig on 25 March 1725. The cantata, for soprano, tenor and bass soloists, four-part choir and Baroque orchestra, takes around 25 minutes to perform.