New Year’s Concert

As a year of challenges and uncertainties comes to an end, we gather in the name of music to draw strength together for what lies ahead. Turmoil also characterized Vienna in the summer of 1798 when Joseph Haydn composed the Missa in Angustiis in just over a month. The previous year, Napoleon had defeated the Austrian armies and was now on his way to conquer Egypt. The anxiety is channeled by Haydn in the dramatic D minor opening of the mass, but just a few weeks before the premiere, Vienna received the news that Admiral Nelson had defeated Napoleon, and the work was given the triumphant nickname, the Nelson Mass.

In the magnificent sculpture of Saint George and the Dragon in our Cathedral, the battle between good and evil is vividly depicted, with George’s sword raised to strike against the mighty dragon. The sculpture is the starting point for Judith Bingham’s newly written organ concerto, composed especially for the Cathedral’s organ. Bingham, who has previously written organ music for the cathedrals in Kalmar and Västerås, enjoys composing programmatic music, and we are eagerly looking forward to hearing Mattias Wager perform her new piece.

Our New Year’s speaker, Lars Strannegård, Dean of the Stockholm School of Economics, will remind us of the necessity of culture and art in a world otherwise dominated by commercial forces (speech to be held in Swedish).

Programme:
Joseph Haydn Missa in Angustiis (“Nelson Mass”)
Judith Bingham Organ Concert No 2 “The Dragon Rises” (uruppförande)

Stockholm Cathedral Singers
Klara Ek soprano
Maria Forsström altp
Carl Unander-Scharin tenor
Lars Arvidsson bass
Orfeus Barock
Mattias Wager organ soloist
Lars Strannegård new year speech
Johan Hammarström conductor

Age limit: 6+
Ticket price: 100, 150, 220, 290, 370 SEK, discounts available for seniors and kids/youth/students.

No big bags, backpacks or trolleys are allowed into the church

Tickets are released at the 7th of September at noon.