Photo: Dagmara Wojtanowicz

Artica Svalbard and the Arctic Chamber Music Festival are pleased to invite you to an after-work gathering with music, soup and a lecture

Classical chamber music has a broad range, and perhaps a bit broader than many associate with the term. The brilliant percussionists Sebastiaan Molenaar and Åsmund Moen from Arctic Philharmonic will present a 30 min programme of classical and contemporary music for percussion. We will guarantee that your view on percussion and classical music will be something else after hearing this concert.

After the music, we will have a talk by Ph.D Charris Efthimiou, Senior Scientist at the Music University of Graz.

Many classical composers developed a fascination with the Arctic and Antarctic regions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some notable examples include Sibelius’ symphonic poem Night Ride and Sunrise from 1908, and Stenhammer’s Sensommarnätter piano work from 1914.

These composers often drew inspiration from weather phenomena, such as the aurora borealis, in their compositions. For instance, Tubin’s second piano sonata and Hill’s Piano piece Aurora Borealis are among the many examples of Arctic-inspired classical music.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus and 7th Symphony also contributed to this genre. Today, the number of compositions inspired by the Arctic has only continued to grow.

During the lecture, Efthimiou will provide an overview of this development and use brief musical examples to help even non-musicians understand and appreciate this fascinating field.

Featuring:

Åsmund Moen, percussion

Sebastiaan Molenaar, percussion

Ph.D Charris Efthimiou, Senior Scientist at the Music University of Graz.

This event is part of the festival pass. For ticket details see here.