CLASSICAL MUSIC

Financially Supported by HCA2005

Lykkesholm Castle
"Romantic Lykkesholm is the most beautiful place I know on Funen," the Danish storyteller wrote in 1835. Now the town of Ørbæk will return the compliment by celebrating the Andersen bicentenary with a magnificent castle concert on 11 June. The cultural association Kultur på Tværs has been established with the aim of staging annual castle concerts at Lykkesholm starting in June 2005. The concert, which is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen, will star Elaine Paige and Danish singer Stig Rossen. Other musical events and exhibitions by local artists in the castle grounds will feature as a prelude to the concert. Furthermore, the castle offers guided tours as well as rides round the castle lake in horse drawn carriage. In addition, Danish actress Ghita Nørby will perform an Andersen reading accompanied by Svend Skipper. Danish entertainers Lasse and Mathilde will also appear. Chairperson of Kultur på Tværs, Lisbeth Steffensen, states:
"We are very grateful that the castle concert at Lykkesholm Castle has received sponsorship from the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Foundation. With this sponsorship and support from the local community we have embarked on an exciting project that will involve many people on eastern Funen. We are currently working on the final programme, and I can promise a unique experience." The doors will open to the castle grounds at 12:30 pm and will close at 11 pm. Visit the website for programme information.
www.slotskoncert.dk

The Society for the Publication of Danish Music/ Edition Samfundet
Project Manager: Else Torp.
Never before have so many new classical works from Denmark been performed so widely throughout the world. This happens in connection with the Andersen bicentenary where the Symphonic Fairytales project is to feature as the principal bicentennial classical music project. Provided the final scores are approved, several leading symphony orchestras on four continents will perform 10 new works based on a tale or poem by Hans Christian Andersen created by Danish composers. Most of the world premiers will be held at family concerts worldwide throughout the Andersen bicentenary, 2 April - 6 December 2005.

The unique works have been commissioned by the Society for Publication of Danish Music, which launched the project in 2000 with a grant from the Danish Ministry of Culture. Symphonic Fairytales is today sponsored by the HCA 2005 Foundation and developed in collaboration with the Hans Christian Andersen 2005 Secretariat, represented by Secretary General Lars Seeberg. Both Danish and international composers have throughout time found music in the texts by Hans Christian Andersen - among the most known composers are Robert Schumann, Alexander Zemlinski, Arthur Honegger and Igor Stravinski. In 1999, the Dacapo record company released a CD with the Odense Symphony Orchestra featuring 3 compositions based on Andersen?s work, namely Finn Høffding's "It's Quite True" (1943), Sven Erik Werner's "The Most Incredible Thing" (1997) and Fuzzy's "The Woman with the Eggs" (1998). The world premiere of Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen?s chamber opera "The Little Mermaid" featured in May 2000.

With Symphonic Fairytales, the Society for the Publication of Danish Music builds on an established musical tradition, which - true to the spirit of the storyteller himself - unites both children and adults alike in the concert experience. The Andersen texts were selected in association with the composers themselves and are set to music within four genres: The Tone Poem, which is purely instrumental, The Orchestral Lied, which engages vocal soloist, The Read Tale, featuring a narrator, and The Integrated Work where children actively participate in the performance.

Participating international orchestras as of 16 February 2005

New York Philharmonic, USA
On condition of approval of final score:
Fuzzy "The Travelling Companion" - 1st American Performance

27th February 2005
Sinfonieorchester Basel, Switzerland
Conductor Frans Rasmussen
Narrator Kurt Aeschbacher
Morten Olsen, "The Little Match-Girl and Other Tales" - World Premiere

26th March 2005 Ho Chi Minh City
2nd April 2005 Hanoi
Ho Chi Minh Ballet and Symphony Orchestra, Vietnam
Narrator Le Khanh
Sven Erik Werner "Truyên tho hài" - World Premiere

31st March and 1st April 2005
Odense Symphony Orchestra, Odense, Denmark
Conductor Frank Strobel
Fuzzy "The Travelling Companion" - World Premiere

1st April 2005, TV and radio broadcast
RTVE Symphony Orchestra and Choir, Madrid, Spain
Chief Conductor: Adrian Leaper
Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen: "Thumbelina" - World premiere

1st April 2005 Deutsches Haus in Flensburg, Germany
2nd April 2005 Sonderjyllandshallen in Aabenraa, DK
South Jutland Symphony Orchestra, Denmark
Conductor Justin Brown
Jesper Koch "The Snow Queen" - World Premiere

2nd April 19.00, 3rd April 15.00
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, UK
Conductor Rumon Gamba
Per Nørgård "The Will'o the Wisps go to Town" - World Premiere

2nd April 2005
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
Fuzzy "The Travelling Companion" - 1st Icelandic Performance

3rd April 2005
Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, Poland
Sven Erik Werner "The most incredible Thing" - 1st Polish Performance
Conducor Lukasz Borowicz
Narrator Dariusz Jakubowski

13th April 10 & 11.30, 14th 9.30 & 11 & 12.30, 15th April 18.00
Oslo-Filharmonien, Norway
John Frandsen "The Shadow" - World Premiere

11th and 12th May 2005
Kungliga Filharmonikerna in Stockholm, Sweden
Bent Lorentzen "The Tinderbox" - World Premiere

8th June 19.30
Århus Symphony Orchestra, Århus, Denmark
Ib Nørholm: "Klokken" - World Premiere

8th October 2005
Helsingborg Symfoniorkester, Sweden
Svend E. Nielsen "The Swineherd"

15th September 2005
Århus Symphony Orchestra, Århus, Denmark
Sven Erik Werner "Fabliau - d'apres Andersen" - World Premiere

15th September 2005
Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Thomas Dausgaard
Per Nørgård "The Will'o the Wisps" - 1st Danish performance

Fundacion de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Chile
Fuzzy "The Travelling Companion" - 1st Chilean Performance

17 January 2005
New scores available
All scores for Symphonic Fairytales scores are now available

John Frandsen - "The Shadow"
Fuzzy - "The Travelling Companion"
Jesper Koch - "The Snow Queen"
Bent Lorentzen - "The Tinderbox"
Svend E. Nielsen - "The Swineherd"
Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen - "Thumbelina"
Per Nørgård - "The Will'o the Wisps go to Town"
Ib Nørholm - "The Bell"
Morten Olsen - "The Little Match Girl and other Tales"
Sven Erik Werner - "Fabliau"
www.symphonicfairytales.dk

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Project Manager: Artistic Director Per Erik Veng.
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Choir and the Danish National Girls Choir will enjoy extensive concert and tour activity at home and abroad in relation to the Hans Christian Andersen bicentenary. The concerts will feature music by Hans Christian Andersen?s musical friends, such as Mendelssohn and Schumann and not least Andersen?s countryman, the almost equally famous Danish composer Carl Nielsen.
A number of Danish and international composers have created works for the three ensembles, which all take their lead from the world of Andersen. The composers include Bo Holten, Bent Sørensen, Per Nørgaard, Poul Ruders, Bobby McFerrin (USA), Stephen Hatfield and Bright Sheng.

The three Danish national ensembles will set the Andersen bicentenary to music in all corners of the world: China, Korea, Taiwan, the USA, Canada and large parts of Europe. Andersen will also be the star of the traditional Thursday concerts at the Danish Radio Concert Hall.
www.dr.dk/p2/ny_rso/rso/index.htm

Tour activity:

The Hans Christian Andersen tour in China and Korea
(Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Seoul).
Works by Sheng (The Poenix), Brahms, Carl Nielsen, Ruders, etc.
Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard. Soloists: Anne Margrethe Dahl (soprano) and Nikolaj Znaider (violin). Special children?s project in China with Sigurd Barrett.
Broadcast on TV and radio in China.
Among the concerts: 31 May at the Great Hall of the People, which seats an audience of 8000.
May - June 2005.

Concertgebouw Summer Festival, The Netherlands
I.P. Hartmann: Yrsa. Ouverture.
Grieg: Piano Concerto
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No.5
Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard
Soloist: Lars Vogt, piano
Wednesday 10 August 2005

The Hans Christian Andersen concert at the Proms, the Royal Albert Hall in London
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Girls? Choir
Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard
Friday 12 August 2005

The Bregenz Festspiel - Theme: Carl Nielsen and Hans Christian Andersen
Carl Nielsen: The Helios Ouverture
Schumann/arranged by Karl Åge Rasmussen: Songs, opus 40, with lyrics by Hans Christian Andersen
Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments
Conductor: Michael Schønwandt
Soloist: Christian Gerhaher, baritone
Monday 15 August 2005

The Hans Christian Andersen tour in China - re-invitation
The National Danish Girls? Choir
Conductor: Michael Bojesen
16 - 30 October 2005

The Odense Symphony Orchestra
Project Manager: The Odense Symphony Orchestra represented by Per Holst.
"Tracing Andersen". On his 30 journeys abroad, Hans Christian Andersen visited cities such as Leipzig, London, Vienna, Paris, Naples, Amsterdam, Rome, Dresden, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Zurich, Munich and Weimar. He was a great music lover and met several of Europe?s leading composers during his travels, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt and Wagner.
The Odense Symphony Orchestra has created a tour which brings the orchestra to the cities where Andersen, according to his diaries, experienced symphonic music. The aim is to select 4-6 of the cities where Andersen enjoyed the greatest symphonic experiences and to stage concerts reflecting the music he experienced there in the mid-19th century. The concerts will be held in countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The tour will take place between 3 and 12 December 2005.
www.odensesymfoni.dk

The Society for the Publication of Danish Music (Edition Samfundet) / The Kronos Quartet
In collaboration with the world-famous Kronos Quartet, conductor Paul Hillier and Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen will create an entirely new 45-minute work for string instruments based on Andersen's fairytale "Thousands of Years from Now". The tour will include the USA, Japan, Denmark, England and France. Publisher: The Society for the Publication of Danish Music.
www.kronosquartet.org / www.samfundet.dk

Ensemble Nordlys
Project Manager: Frederik Waage
Ensemble Nordlys (which consists of four musicians) offers a musical programme with composers from the day and age of Andersen as well as new works by Danish composers Carsten Bo Eriksen and Martin Lohse and composers Rafal Augustyn (Poland) and Robert Iolini (Australia) which have been commissioned for the bicentenary.
Ensemble Nordlys is the only chamber ensemble involved in the bicentennial celebrations and contributes with a concert reflecting the poet's close association with the musical world, then and now. It is, after all, hard to think of another writer who has been so involved with musical circles and inspired so many composers as Hans Christian Andersen.
Andersen's vast circle of friends and acquaintances included some of the very best composers in Denmark and abroad, including Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, and Niels W. Gade, just to mention a few, and Andersen collaborated with several of them. Even after his death, his wonderful fairytales continued to inspire numerous composers.
To mark the occasion, Ensemble Nordlys presents a chamber concert with music by Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Gade - all of whom were acquainted with Andersen - as well as four short pieces composed for the occasion by Danish and foreign composers and inspired by Andersen?s authorship.
A narrator can be called upon to read aloud from the fairytales, to comment on the historical background as well as clarify the ideas and thoughts behind the new compositions.
Ensemble Nordlys consists of four musicians: Christine Pryn (violin), Jolson Oshiro (clarinet), Frederik Waage (cello) and Joachim Olsson (piano). The concert is well suited for a variety of concert venues and is offered to small and large concert halls, chamber music associations, churches, libraries, museums etc. Currently, concert tours have been scheduled for Ireland, the Baltic countries and Poland while several others tours are in the planning.
Since their début in 1997, Ensemble Nordlys has given concerts at numerous venues, including in the Danish Radio Concert Hall in Copenhagen, the Concert Hall Aarhus, the Otto Braun Saal in Berlin, the Krakow Philharmonic Hall and the Art Museum in Reykjavik. In 2004, Ensemble Nordlys represented Denmark at the international EU Music Festival at the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, and in 2005 the group has toured Vietnam.
www.ensemblenordlys.dk


Logo Cooperations

Jakob Christian Zethner and Kristian Giver

Singer Jakob Christian Zethner and pianist Kristian Giver sets Andersen's lyrics to music in a series of lieder concerts. The widely varied programme, reaching from Robert Schumann, Frederick Delius and Edward Grieg to E.W. Korngold and Ludwig Schytte, will be supplemented with background stories while video projections of the storyteller?s paper cuts will accompany the music. The concerts will held during 2005 in Denmark, the rest of Scandinavia, Germany, England, France, etc.

The New York Scandia Symphony (USA)
Project Manager: Dorrit Matson.
The professional New York Scandia Symphony, headed by Danish-born conductor Dorrit Matson, specialises in Scandinavian classical music. On 12 May, the orchestra will perform Poul Schierbeck's "The Tinder Box" for the first time in the USA at the Trinity Church, 74 Trinity Place on Broadway and Wall Street. Andersen's text will be recited by actor Michael York.
www.trinitywallstreet.org

The Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden)
Contact person: Eva Claeson, Head of Marketing, MSO.
The Malmö Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen featuring two very different concerts at the Malmö Concert Hall during the spring. www.mso.se

Nallekoncert® - Hans Christian Andersen and the fairytales
A Nallekoncert for the toddlers. The family concert appealing to a wide audience. The singer and entertainer Mikael Neumann sweeps us into the world of fairytales with the grand orchestra and its dramatic symphonic sound. Conductor: Jerker Johansson.
Saturday 30 April 2005, Noon, 2 pm and 4 pm.

Fairytale with Malmö Symphony Orchestra - Andersen in Silhouette.
When Hans Christian Andersen wasn't writing fairytales or socialising in with cream of society, he would make paper cuts. But can you outline of the writer himself using his fairytales, books and music. Andersen's portrait is painted by actor Philip Zandén in an exciting musical journey where the poet and his work inspire many artists and composers. An unorthodox thematic programme - a so-called fairytale concert. Conductor: Josep Caballé Domenech. Narrator: Philip Zandén.
Thursday 12 May 2005, 7:30 pm

AudioLibris / Bilderbuch ohne Bilder (Germany)
The German listening book publisher, Hörbuch Verlag AudioLibris, will release the double CD "Bilderbuch ohne Bilder" (Picture Book without Pictures), which is based on Andersen's collection of stories by the same name (published in 1847). The story offers 33 melancholic scenes experience different places on the Earth by the Moon and which it now passes on the lonely and hungry young painter dwelling in his studio. The CD release features 33 classical Romantic piano nocturnes by Christian Albert Lemmer and a CD with readings by the celebrated German narrator Matthias Ponnier (known from ZDF and WDR). The CDs will be released in early February 2005.
www.audiolibris.de