Video streamed event and on demand: 150 Years of Stenhammar - Lied Evening

Wilhelm Stenhammar is without hesitation one of Sweden’s most significant composers and was one of the foremost Swedish pianists of his time. We are celebrating the 150-year anniversary of Stenhammar’s birth with a large festival. Stenhammar was born in 1871 in Stockholm. His family lived on Kammakargatan, just a few hundred metres from the location at which Konserthuset Stockholm would later be built.

Next to his chamber music, Stenhammar’s songs are perhaps his most important compositions. They also inspired great admiration among his contemporary colleagues in singing and composition. Already as a teenager, he composed songs to texts by Heinrich Heine, Jens Peter Jacobsen, Oscar Levertin and Johan Ludvig Runeberg. Many of his songs also demonstrate his unparalleled ability to dress up the poetry of his day with perfectly atmospheric music.

Soprano Miah Persson performs in the world’s most prestigious opera houses and is also highly active in concert settings. Her specialities include Mozart’s operas, as well as the role of Sophie in Richard Strauss’ Rosenkavalier and Anne Trulove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Her discography is extensive and she has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski and Iván Fischer. Recent seasons have included roles at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Berlin State Opera, Theater an der Wien and the Verbier Festival.

Karl-Magnus Fredriksson performs with many of the foremost orchestras and regularly travels to various European countries to perform opera and lieder, orchestral songs and sacred works. Since 1999, he has been associated with the Royal Swedish Opera, where he has performed numerous famous roles in operas by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi and Puccini, as well as contemporary Swedish operas such as Sven-David Sandström’s Batseba, Daniel Börtz’s Medea, and Hans Gefors’ Christina. He is also a popular educator and was appointed court singer in 2004.

The versatile pianist Magnus Svensson specialises in the art of lied, and he has served as artistic director of Lied Evenings at Konserthuset for several seasons. In addition to the Nordic region and elsewhere in Europe, he has also performed in Russia and the US. Magnus Svensson obtained his soloist diploma from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, graduated with honours as top student, and then immersed himself in the study of lied interpretation in London. Since 2012, he has also worked at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music with re-publishing older Swedish music.