All Saints' Day concert

The Norwegian Soloists' Choir joins forces with the talents of the choir's Academy and invites you to a spectacular concert with music for comfort and joy.

All Saints' Day is a time for remembering, for reflection, and tonight's concert revolves around just that. A warm welcome to this year's All Saints' Day concerts led by conductor Grete Pedersen!

Program

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949): Deutsche Motette
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847): Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen
Kaija Saariaho (1952 – 2023): Nuits, adieux
Therese Birkelund Ulvo (f. 1982): Lukkartid (urfremføring)
Max Reger (1873 – 1916): O Tod, wie bitter bist du
Arnold Schönberg (1874 – 1951): Friede auf Erden

One of the concert's main works is Richard Strauss's monumental Deutsche Motette. Both the scope and the complexity of the 20-part piece mean that it is performed very rarely. The program continues in German romanticism with Max Reger's beautiful choral piece O Tod, wie bitter bist du.

The cycle of life and the passage of time have a central place in the concert, not least in the premiere of Lukkartid by Therese Birkelund Ulvo, one of Norway's most prominent composers. The texts are taken from the poetry collection URD by Ruth Lillegraven, which was awarded Brageprisen in 2013.

Here we follow the life of seamstress Seselja, who lived through two world wars in the 20th century. The poems are about the past that is woven together with the present. The time that flows through the landscape and the people, about children being born and the death that awaits.

In Ulvo's piece, the lyrics are seamlessly interwoven with various hymns with an echo of hope, consolation, longing and joy.

A warm welcome to this year's All Saints' Day concerts with a top team of singers led by conductor Grete Pedersen!