Festival Program

2025

The Story of a City

Family concert
10:30 –
11:10

After the success in 2023, The Story of a City returns. For those who missed it, or those who want to see it again!
A personally created performance where the history of Gothenburg is described through text and music from various eras.
The well-known Ayla Kabaca (Bolibompa, etc.) vividly tells the story of the people who have built, influenced, or impacted the city of Gothenburg: Dutch, Scots, English, West Goths, Turks, Bohuslänners, Chinese, Norwegians – yes, people from near and far, children and the elderly, women and men, short and tall, happy and angry. Gothenburg Combo enhances all impressions with music that tells of the city’s diverse history: Dutch 17th-century music by the flutist Jacob van Eyck, Scottish songs from the 1700s in the Italian version of Barsanti, music by Elfrida André, Bedrich Smetana, Carl Michael Bellman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dietrich Buxtehude, Isaac Albéniz, Evert Taube, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Giacchino Rossini, and Håkan Hellström, American folk music and Steve Reich with connections to the great American ships, traditional Chinese music that the East Indiamen may have heard on their journeys in the 1700s, and Spanish music they heard during their stopover in Cadiz, where they traded for silver.

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2025

Meet the composer

Talk between composers
16:00 –
16:30

Get to know the award-winning composer Jonatan Sersam, who talks about his new work Rain – Heart – Hammer for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, which will be premiered at the final concert. A commissioned work by Sveriges Radio.

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2025

Still falls the rain

Final concert
18:00 –
21:00

Benjamin Britten (*1913 †1976) Folk songs for tenor and piano 
– The Sally Gardens
– Oliver Cromwell
– The last rose of summer                            

Jonatan Sersam (*1986) 
Rain – Heart – Hammer for clarinet, violin, viola, cello
Premiere performance
Commissioned by Swedish Radio

// Intermission //

Sebastian Fagerlund Woodlands for bassoon

Jean Sibelius (*1865 †1957) Four Pieces for violin and piano Op. 115

Benjamin Britten (*1913 †1976) Lyrics: Edith Sitwell (*1887 †1964)  
Canticle III: Still falls the rain Op.55 for tenor, horn, piano      

// Intermission** //

Ludwig van Beethoven (*1770 †1827) Septet E flat major Op. 20 for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola, cello, double bass

**If pre-ordered with your ticket purchase, a delicious snack (Swedish farm chicken, roasted corn cream, wild garlic emulsion, and semi-dried tomato) with a non-alcoholic beverage will be served.

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2025

Instrument of silk

Workshop
09:30 –
10:30

Rosali Grankull (*1984) Music for strings & silk

Silk as a material requires patience, as its properties are both strong and delicate. During the workshop, participants will get to know silk intimately and experience firsthand what happens when the threads are connected to string instruments. The collective work lies at the heart of this piece: collaboration and attentive listening.

Once the installation is complete, the workshop enters its next phase, where participants and composer Rosali Grankull engage in collective improvisation using the installation and a few sound objects placed around the room.

No prior knowledge is required. The workshop aims to engage participants and open doors to experimentation with just a few materials.

At 21.00, everyone gathers again to present the work during the concert Silky Night Music. During the evening concert, participants will join festival artists in an improvisation performance.

Under the direction of composer Rosali Grankull

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2025

Flow my tears

Baroque concert
14:00 –
15:15

An emotional journey with Baroque music performed by some of Sweden’s most prominent Baroque musicians, joined by tenor Martin Vanberg.

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (*1665 †1729) Sonata II
Antonio Vivaldi (*1678 †1741) Concerto in G minor, RV 157
Isabella Leonarda
(*1620 †1704) Sonata I
Jean-Féry Rebel (*1666 †1747) Les caractères de la danse  
John Dowland (*1563 †1626) Flow my tears
Georg Friedrich Händel (*1685 1759) Un momento, from the opera seria Alcina

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2025

From the sea to the stars

Evening concert
18:00 –
20:00

Olivier Messiaen (*1908 †1992) Appel interstellaire from Des Canyons aux Etoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) for solo horn
“From the canyons to the stars… This means rising from the depths of the canyons up to the stars – and even higher up to the resurrected of paradise – to praise God and the fullness of his creations: the beauties of the earth (its rocks, its birdsongs), the beauties of the visible sky, the beauties of the spiritual sky.”
Olivier Messiaen: Preface to the score of Des Canyons aux étoiles …

Massimiliano Matesic (*1969) Il silenzio delle sirene for bassoon and piano
To protect himself from the sea creatures, the seductive song of the sirens, Odysseus put wax in his ears and allowed himself to be forged into the mast. But the sirens have an even more terrible weapon than their song: their silence. Although it has not happened, it is perhaps conceivable that someone could have saved themselves from their song – but from their silence, absolutely not.

Carl Nielsen (*1865 †1931) Serenata in vano for clarinet, bassoon, french horn, cello, double bass

// Intermission**//

Franz Schubert (*1797 †1828) Trout Quintet in A Major, Op. post. 114 D 667 for piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass

**If pre-ordered with your ticket purchase, a delicious snack (cured salmon, marinated potatoes, horseradish, and radish) with a non-alcoholic beverage will be served.

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2025

Silky Night Music

Late night concert
21:00 –
21:45

Rosali Grankull (*1984) Music for strings & silk 

A performance where Rosali, the participants from the morning workshop, and some of the festival’s musicians invite the audience to a collective sonic exploration. Together, they create a musical event using the silk instrument, objects, and instruments, where sensitivity, togetherness, and curiosity are highlighted as the key qualities of the work. In the grand improvisation, everyone must practice making space for each other. The piece opens up a situation where the role of being active in the installation alternates, and the audience will also be invited to step into the sonic space of the work.

The piece is framed by songs by John Dowland (*1563 †1626) and Henry Purcell (*1659 †1695), performed by one of Sweden’s most prominent Baroque singers who accompanies himself on the lute.  The antiphon Karitat habundas by Hildegard von Bingen (*1098 †1179) will also be performed by a specially assembled Frontside Choir and festival artists.

 

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2025

From Home Port

Opening concert
19:00 –
20:45

Paula af Malmborg Ward (*1962)
Open up! (Frontside’s own fanfare)
For voice, violin, clarinet, bassoon, percussion

Camille Saint-Saëns *(1835 †1921) Sonata in G major, Op. 168 for bassoon and piano 

Benjamin Britten (*1913 †1976) On this island for tenor and piano (Lyrics: W. A Auden)
– Let the florid music praise! 
– Now the leaves are falling fast
– Seascape
– Nocturne
– As it is, plenty

// Intermission** //

Wilhelm Stenhammar (*1871 †1927) Songs for tenor and piano
– Prins Aladin av lampan
– Fylgia
– Lycklandsresan

Elfrida Andrée (*1841 †1929) Piano Quartet in A minor

**If pre-ordered with your ticket purchase, a delicious snack (Skagen mix, red onion, rye bread crisps, and dill) with a non-alcoholic beverage will be served.

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2025

Secret Music

Late night concert
21:30 –
22:15

An atmospheric evening concert filled with mysterious melodies, including a world premiere by Jonas Bohlin. Before we bid the night farewell, pianist Peter Friis Johansson will embrace us with the beloved Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie.

Edgar Meyer (*1960) Duo for cello and double bass

Pēteris Vasks (*1946) Three Pieces for clarinet and piano

Pēteris Vasks (*1946) Bass Trip for double bass

Premiere performance
Jonas Bohlin
(*1963) Solo for cello

Charles Koechlin (*1867 †1950) Sonata Op. 71 for bassoon and piano

Erik Satie (*1866 †1925) Gymnopédie No. 1 for piano

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2025

Jungle brass

Student concert
12:15 –
12:55

Young music students from Gothenburg’s Academy of Music and Drama brighten up lunchtime with music for brass quintet.

The students in the brass quintet:
Tadej Vujanic – Trumpet
Tuva Trygged Iko – Trumpet
Weronika Pietrzak – French Horn
Siria Maria Pitzianti – Trombone
Rasmus Sedenmalm Porali – Tuba

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2025

Among sailors and sharks

Walking concert
18:30 –
21:00

A walking journey through Sjöfartsmuseet with a culinary and musical finale in the Gathenhielmska House.
Dedicated to the Finnish sailors who worked and gave their name to the district “Majorna” in Gothenburg.

The ticket price includes entry to Sjöfartsmuseet, as well as pea soup and punch, at the Gathenhielmska House.

At Sjöfartsmuseet you can listen to:
Sebastian Fagerlund (*1972) Sonore from Oceano for violin, viola, cello
Sebastian Fagerlund (*1972) Scherzic for violin and cello
Pekka Kuusisto (*1976) Miniö for violin och double bass
Lotta Wennäkoski (*1970) Sinne (on a Finnish folk song) for violin, viola, cello

At around 19.45 in the Gathenhielmska House, you can listen to this while enjoying a warming Thursday tradition, pea soup with punch:
Bernhard Crusell (*1775 †1838) Quartet no 1 in E flat major for clarinet, violin, viola, cello

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Thank's!

You have made this years festival come true

sponsors

Kulturrådet
The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation
Göteborgs Stad
Västra Götalandsregionen
Herbert & Karin Jacobssons stiftelse
Stiftelsen Eduard Magnus musikfond
Bob Kelly
Torrestad Branding & Strategi AB, Åsa Torrestad

partners

Kronhuset
Sjöfartsmuseet Akvariet
Gathenhielmska huset
Palmhuset Trädgårdsföreningen
Juhl Sørensen A/S, Steinway & Sons Scadinavia
Sveriges Radio P2
Högskolan för scen och musik, Göteborgs Universitet
Rytmus musikgymnasium
Restaurang Break
Café Kronhuset
Hotel Royal