Lauri Metsvahi; slagverk
Blåsarsymfonikerna
Cathrine Winnes

16 mars 2019, Musikaliska, Stockholm
Svensk musikvår 2019
Uruppförande!

Konnakol Variations - Uruppförande 20190316

Benjamin Staern (b. 1978) started his musical experience with studies in cello, piano and percussion in his youth. Studies in musicology at Lund University and subsequently studied composition at the Malmö Academy of Music during 1998-2005 with Rolf Martinsson, Hans Gefors and Luca Francesconi, and made an early breakthrough, while still a student at the Malmö Academy of Music, with the symphonic work The Threat of War (1999). 

From this point on, Staern has developed a deeply personal style with an output including orchestral and chamber works, solo pieces and electroacoustic music. An interesting aspect of his work as a composer is his unusual ability to associate tones and timbres with different colours and tints. This is a variant of a phenomenon called synaesthesia which is fundamental in his perception and the creation of his music, and which is reflected in his sound world as well as in many of his work titles (Yellow Skies, Colour Wandering etc.) 

Today Staern receives commissions on a regular basis. Looking into the near future, he is commissioned to write a major work for Malmö Symphony Orchestra and song cycle for alto Anna Larsson and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. From September 2010 he is composer-in-residence with New European Ensemble for them he composed works from this collaboration such as Tranströmersånger (selected poems from the Sad Gondola - collection by Nobel-prize author and poet Tomas Tranströmer) and Bells and Waves (Chamber Symphony), winner of the SMFF Award 2011 in the category ”most important work in chamber music/smaller ensemble”.

Works by Benjamin Staern is today performed not only by all the major Swedish orchestras but also internationally by orchestras such as the MDR Sinfonieorchester, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Staern has collaborated with ensembles including New European Ensemble, Sonanza Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Aspekte and Stockholm Chamber Brass. Soloists include Håkan Hardenberger, Anna Larsson, Johannes Möller, Karin Dornbusch, Carina Vinke, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, Philippe Cassard and conductors Michael Christie, Daniel Raiskin, Christian Karlsen, Mats Rondin, Mika Eichenholz and Stefan Solyom.

Paul Max Edlin's music is published by Composers Edition. 

Paul Max Edlin, 2016/2017 Composer in Residence for the London Chamber Orchestra, has a career that combines composing with higher education, artistic direction and performing.  

His works have been performed by many leading artists including Alison Balsom, Arditti Quartet, Britten Sinfonia, David Campbell, Cantus Ansambl, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Rolf Hind, Johannes Möller, London Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Olga Pasiecznik, Psappha, Silesian Quartet, Southbank Sinfonia, Gabriella Swallow, John Wallace and The Wallace Collection and Bede Williams. 

He studied with Edwin Roxburgh, Richard Blackford and Joseph Horowitz (Royal College of Music) and Michael Finnissy (University of Sussex). He has won many prizes including Premio Internazionale Ancona, Harriet Cohen Memorial Award and United Music Publishers Prize. His music explores symbolism and often derives its inspiration from extra musical material. From the mid 80’s to mid 90’s many works were inspired by the art and architecture of South-East Asia, especially Indochina. From 2000 onward symbolism of a wider range of sources guided his music, from the chiastic structures of J.S. Bach to the writings of Gabriel García Márquez and Federico García Lorca and visual work of Frida Kahlo.

Paul Max Edlin is former Director of Music at Queen Mary University of London. He was Artistic Director of Deal Music & Arts (formerly Deal Festival) from 2004 to 2021, Sounds New (2007 to 2013), Director of International Composer Pyramid (2008-2013) and was founding Chair of the Board of Trustees of Ora Singers. He is current Executive Chair of W.E. International Music Festival, which brings eastern and western cultures together.  From 2012 to 2013 he was President of the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), the UK's leading association for professional musicians.

Composer,Guitarist
Post-Classical, Post-prog, Electronic, etc

ibaraki japan
茨城/日本

Pèter Kőszeghy, *1971 in Hungary, Balassagyarmat.

Kőszeghy studied composition with Paul-Heinz Dittrich and electronic music with Andre Bartetzki at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin. Since his diploma in 1999 he lives in Berlin as a free-lance composer. Many of his compositions were awarded with prizes and played at festivals as Ultraschall Berlin, Ensemblia Mönchengladbach, Randspiele Zepernick, Tongyoeng International Music Festival Korea and AdeVantgarde Munich. Interpreters of his compositions were the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra,
MusikFabrik NRW, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Ensemble Zagros, Finland,
Ensemble Aleph, France and as soloists f.e. Camilla Hoitenga, Peter Veale.

As a composer Kőszeghy doesn’t belong to any kind of aesthetic group. His musical speech often has an exciting and offensive effect. The energy inside the music produced during the performance is the most important motive in his compositorial work, in which he wants to destroy the borders of conventions. Köszeghy’s intention of "plumbing the depths" of instrumental techniques by the virtuosity of his compositions never means the end in itself but always obeys concepts of overriding importance which support the energies in his works. Many of Köszeghy’s compositions are inspired by mythology: the Greek antiquity is as important as the ancient Hungarian "Shaman"-Wisdom, with which he goes back to his own roots in the Hungarian culture.

Konnakol Variations - Uruppförande 20190316

Benjamin Staern Composer