NEW YEAR'S CONCERT WITH THE STOCKHOLM STRAUSS ORCHESTRA
As tradition requires, Stockholm’s Strauss Orchestra will perform New Year’s concerts in the Berwaldhallen concert hall. Under the direction of the superb Andrej Nikolaev, who playfully swings the baton in well-known works by Johann, Josef and Eduard Strauss. There will also be new additions to the repertoire.
These concerts are for the curious, as well as for those who wish to hear the well known waltzes and polkas from the New Year’s concert in Vienna. They are presented by opera singer Marianne Eklöf.
Dancers from The Royal Swedish Ballet School break the law of gravity with unparalleled choreographies created for this year’s New Year’s concert by Judith Simon.
Stockholm Strauss orchestra’s New year’s concert is for everyone, the whole family, young and old.
Is it possible for the New Year to be more festive than with music by the Strauss family? With all of the participants in an exuberant good mood and maybe a glass of sparkling wine during the intermission? Treat yourself, and let yourself be seduced by sparkling music, languishing waltzes and fast-paced polkas. As you hum these beautiful melodies and perhaps slightly tipsy, you dance on into the snow covered, starry New Year’s night.
Let us look forward to New Year’s bells and the new year, forward to new adventures and new hopes.
Unforgettably exciting!
A warm welcome to celebrate the New Year with Sweden’s most festive symphony orchestra.
Happy New Year!
PROGRAM
Johann Strauss II – Viribus unitis. March, Opus 96
Johann Strauss II – Kaiser-Walzer, Opus 437
Edward Elgar – Salut d‘ Amour. Serenade
Josef Strauss – Jockey Polka schnell, Opus 278
Eduard Strauss – Colombine. Polka-Mazurka, Opus 89
Johann Strauss I – Damen Souvenir. Polka, Opus 236
Josef Strauss – Marien-Klänge. Walzer, Opus 214
Johann Strauss II – Vergnügungszug. Polka schnell, Opus 281
INREMISSION
Johann Strauss II – Wellen und Wogen. Walzer, Opus 141
Johann Strauss II – Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Opus 214
Johann Strauss II – Balettmusik ur „Der Carneval in Rom“
Dmitri Shostakovich – Walz no 2
Johann Strauss II – Bitte schön! Polka francaise, Opus 372
Johann Strauss II – In´s Centrum! Walzer, Opus 387
Johann Strauss II – Par force! Polka schnell, Opus 319
Read more on the Strauss Orchestra’s website
www.straussorkestern.org
Participants
Marianne Eklöf, of the great singers of our time, mezzo-soprano who worked internationally for many years. She has also been active at Malmö Opera and was part of the permanent ensemble at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm for 25 years. There, she has performed roles as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Carmen, Eboli in Don Carlos, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, Ortrud in Lohengrin, and most notably, Klytaimnestra in Elektra. Eklöf is also active as a director and has been the chairman of the Stockholm Strauss Orchestra since 2019.
The Royal Swedish Ballet School has its roots in a tradition that goes back to Gustav III’s opera and the education that was later called Operans Balletlevskola. The ballet school collaborates regularly with the Royal Opera and even as children the students perform on the opera’s stage.
Miranda Benramdane Fält, is a joyful dancer who loves to try new things! She attended the Swedish Ballet School in Gothenburg, where she danced the lead role of Clara in The Nutcracker. She then continued her studies at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, where she was selected to perform in Swan Lake with the Royal Opera. After graduating, Miranda has participated in The Nutcracker, danced at the Berwaldhallen, performed in Armide at Drottningholm, and now she has also auditioned to dance in Versailles, Paris, where she has progressed to the next stage!
Pontus Sundset-Granat is trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School. As a freelance dancer, nationally and internationally, he has been engaged with companies such as Ballet Mainz, Danish Dance Theatre, Carte Blanche, Norrdans, the Royal Swedish Opera, Ballett am Rhein in Düsseldorf, and the Finnish National Opera.
Pontus has worked with choreographerJosef Sturdy, Nicole Morel, Tim Feldmann, Dorte Olesen, Sigge Modigh, Cristina Caprioli, Mats Ek, and with Virpi Pahkinen in Swan Song, Blackrainbow, Vindvaka, and DeepTime.
Judith Simon is trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School and directly after completing her training was employed by the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Early in her career Judith performed solo roles and competed in international ballet competitions. This led to her being appointed soloist and premiere dancer. Judith’s strong technique and sparkling personality gave her many leading roles and soloist assignments during her career at the Royal Opera as well as international tours to, for example, Japan, the USA, Brazil, England, Italy and the Czech Republic. She is now active as a choreographer and teacher at The Royal Swedish Ballet School.
Stockholm Strauss Orchestra was founded in 1992 as an offshoot of the Swedish Strauss Society, which was established in 1960. The driving force behind it was Berth Vestergård, also one of the founders of the Strauss Society. The orchestra is modelled after – and has the same instrumental setup as – the Capelle Strauss orchestra, which performed under the leadership of members of the Strauss family between 1827 and 1901. It also follows the same dress code, with red tailcoats and white trousers, as the musicians of Capelle Strauss wore at the court balls in Vienna.
Marc Power comes from a family of musicians in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. After studying at the Moscow Conservatory, he played as 1st Concertmaster at the Bolshoi Academic Theatre, Opera and Ballet in Tashkent. In 1990 he moved to Sweden and was employed the following year by the Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra. He is concertmaster of the Stockholm Strauss Orchestra, Power Strings and the Stockholm Ensemble.
Andrej Nikolaevs path in the service of music began at an early age. The violin became the obvious choice of instrument and through studies at, among others, the London Royal College, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm as a violin soloist.
Andrej has served as concertmaster and leader in several Swedish orchestras. As a soloist, he has played Paganini’s first violin concerto together with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mats Rondin.
As a conductor, he has led concerts, ballet and opera performances at, among others, the Berwaldhallen, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Palace, Confidence, the Großer Saal at the Berliner Philharmoniker and at the opera house in Krajova in Romania.
An important person for Andrej was the legendary concert pianist and professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Greta Erikson. She came to his concerts and expressed her appreciation for Andrej’s way of conducting orchestras. That support means that he has Greta in grateful remembrance every time he conducts.
He has toured Europe as a conductor and collaborated with soloists such as Marianne Mörck, with the Royal Opera’s court singers such as Hillevi Martinpelto, Katarina Karnéus, Daniel Johansson and Karl-Magnus Fredriksson and together with the soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson he has made several disc recordings.
In 2021, Andrej conducted Stockholm’s Strauss Orchestra’s exuberant New Year’s concerts for the first time, and now before the New Year’s concerts in 2023, he is back at the desk, ready to waltz with the orchestra and the audience.
Approximate concert length: 2 h 30 min (including intermission)
External organiser: Stockholm Strauss Orchestra
Tickets
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